


Under The Ruined Sky

by HDMEwannabe



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fallout, Angst, Blood, Coran is the weird uncle, Fallout monsters, Fluff, Ghouls, Gore, Gun for hire Keith, Gun for hire Shiro, Kinda?, Lance has a big family, Lance is a dork, M/M, PTSD, Pidge's family is ok, Sniper Lance (Voltron), Super Mutants, Violence, feral ghouls, idk what to add, lots and lots of fluff, mentions of abuse, radiation?!?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-26
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-08-11 04:42:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 46,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7876975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HDMEwannabe/pseuds/HDMEwannabe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith and Shiro are guns for hire travelling the harsh Wasteland and they are in a bad position without a lot of caps, but all of that changes when they meet a mysterious man at the Garrison bar.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Good Bargain

**Author's Note:**

> For all of thoes not familiar with the fallout universe here are some things you may want to keep in mind  
> The world entered a nuclear war that left everything destroyed and irradiated.  
> This story is happening 200 years after that event.  
> Caps are used as money because normal money lost it's value (I think, correct me if i'm wrong).  
> Ghouls, molerats, super mutants and other creatures we'll encounter in here are monsters that exist in the fallout universe.  
> Um... I think everything else will be explained in the fic itself  
> Hope you enjoy it!

The sun was shining bright and hot. Keith was exhausted from the long trip from Washington. They got a job at a farm where the farmers had problems with mole rats. The damned things tore up their fields and ate their crops, even harmed a few of their kids who thought they were ugly dogs. Shiro and Keith got rid of them in one week and got paid miserably. They weren't angry, they understood that the farmers weren't rich, especially not now after the mole rats did their thing.

“How long until we get there?” groaned Keith as he drank the last few drops of water from his flask.

“Half an hour, give or take.” Shiro looked back at him, "we're all out of water?"

“Yep!”

“We need to get a bigger flask.”

“Three of them, so let’s hope the next contract pays better.”

“Keith, you know they couldn’t have paid us more, they-“

“I know, I know, but we do need to get paid more, or else we won’t be able to survive out here,” Keith sighed and looked at Shiro with concern in his eyes.

“Don’t worry, we will,” Shiro reassured. “Look, we’re almost at the bar,” he said looking at the tall ruined buildings of Philadelphia.

They walked through the city for a good half an hour, on the look for the danger and with their hands on their weapons.

Shiro carried a large semi-automatic assault rifle on his back and a smaller one in his arms. He used the big one only when things went to hell. If he ever ran out of bullets he would use the smaller one as a melee weapon, clobbering his enemies into the ground with it.

Keith rested his right hand on the pistol he had in its holster, the other hand swayed in the air freely. On his back he had a big baseball bat and on his thigh there was a blade, it was a weird weapon shaped differently than any other battle knife. The blade itself looked sinister and the handle was a covered with leather, concealing the shapes beneath it.

They were both talented in battle, but not everything is about whacking the problem in its face. Sometimes you have to talk your way out of it. Shiro was gifted in the charisma department, he could talk his way out of any sticky situation or convince anyone to do what he wanted, of course his looks helped with that. He was a master at bargains, lowering the prices of merchandise and raising the price of his and Keith’s services. He even convinced a few raiders to leave the pillaging and murdering life and become a farmer or something of the sort.

Keith was a charmer too, he didn’t use it to his advantage though. Obviously he didn’t have to use it for it to work on smitten girls and even boys. But he wasn’t a talker. He used his agility to sneak around his troubles or get to the things he wanted. His stealth skills were so on point he could steal food and caps from a raider camp without breaking a sweat.

Both knew how to pick locks and break into terminals. They knew how to get clean uniradiated water and how to make little food last as long as they needed. All in all, they were ready for anything.

They were also always ready for a fight. If they learned anything in the Wasteland, it was that at any moment you can have a nut running at you guns blazing. Or you can walk into a swarm of ghouls. Or super mutants. Or anything really.

Keith relaxed when he saw the familiar orange sign of the bar they always stopped in. The Garrison was a bar even before The Great War, it was a fancy and comfortable place for people that had a big wallet.  Now it’s nothing compared to what it was then, although it is in much better shape than any other building in Philadelphia.

An old commander from The Brotherhood of Steel stopped here and set up this bar after he got tired of the military bullshit long ago. Now this place is a safe haven for travellers, wonderers and traders, and a good spot for mercenaries to get jobs. So, perfect for Keith and Shiro.

They were eager to get in as soon as possible, because it wasn’t safe to stay outside for too long and they were hungry. As they walked in, they saw that the place was packed with all kinds of people and ghouls that didn’t go feral, traders talking to each other about big deals they did, wonderers exchanging stories about adventures, farmers talking about their hard work and guns for hire looking for jobs. They started towards the counter as the old commander, who was also the bartender, saw them.

“Well if it isn’t the Voltron duo! What dragged your sorry asses back to my joint?” Ol’Timer, as they called him, hollered at the pair with a shit eating grin on his face.

“Nice to see you too,” Shiro smiled and sat down at the counter, “we got a lousy pay so we had to get here as soon as possible.” Keith joined him on his right and looked at the bartender, “can you get us two brahmin steaks and some water please? We walked from Washington with only a few sugar bomb packages and two flasks of dirty water,” Keith moaned with a tired voice.

“Sure thing kiddo, and if you boys really need a big pay check you should go talk to that lanky kid in the corner,” Ol’ pointed at a young fellow sitting alone in the dark. “He’s been interviewing mercenaries all day and one of them told me he’d do anything for a pay like he offered.”

“How much did he offer?” asked Shiro.

“I have no idea, but it must have been a lot. Anyway kiddos, go talk to him and I’ll bring you food in a minute,” said Ol’ and walked off into the kitchen.

“Do you think he’s worth our time?” Keith looked at the kid. “He doesn’t look like he could protect five caps from a wasp, let alone give out such a big salary.”

“We don’t have a choice; we need the caps, so let’s just hear him out first.” Shiro stood up and started walking towards the mysterious boy. Keith followed suit and whispered, “you’re right, but he turned down every single mercenary today, what makes you think he’s going to hire us?” “We can try our luck,” Shiro sighed and moved on.

As they approached the young man, he looked up from the table. The two mercenaries stopped and Shiro spoke, “we heard you were hiring.” The kid looked up at them, glancing from head to toe. After taking a good look at them he smiled. “Sit down and we can talk about it,” confidence in his voice.

The pair sat down and Keith started, “so what do you want us to do?” The mystery boy looked at him and Keith noticed that he was about his age, which was odd. Not a lot of people his age went about the Wasteland on their own without getting killed instantly. Another thing he noticed was that he was tan and easy on the eyes, but that really didn’t matter now.

A stern look came on his face and he spoke out quietly, “first I would like you to answer a few questions, before I give you the details for the job.”

“You’re the boss so go ahead,” Shiro smiled.

“Do you guys do protection jobs?”

“Up until now we mostly had those kind of jobs,” answered Keith.

“Who did you protect?”

“Farmers and traders,” Shiro responded.

“So you haven’t been hired by raiders or gunners? And you didn’t steal or pillage?”

“No!” both said at once. “We don’t do dirty jobs,” explained Shiro. “We only stole from raiders,” added Keith.

“I can vouch for them,” said Ol' as he handed the food and water to Keith and Shiro. “Since they stepped in my bar five years ago I haven’t heard a single bad thing about them, they only do jobs for good people, even if they don’t offer a lot of caps for their services,” he ruffed up Keith’s hair and he looked up at him appreciatively.

“I see,” the boy leaned back in his seat and took another good look at the duo. “Very well then, let me introduce myself.” He stretched out his hand to Shiro, “my name is Lance McClain.” “My name is Takashi Shirogane, but you can call me Shiro.” He accepted the hand and shook it. “And this is Keith Kogane,” he pointed at him. Lance and Keith shook hands, Lance smiling widely and Keith being the awkward little potato he is just smiled shyly and looked at his feet.

“Nice to meet you both, well, I’m sure you’re both interested in what your job will be right?” Both nodded at him. “Ok, so I live in a walled off place on the coast to the east called The Altean Colony, there’s about 20 of us living there and we need some protection from this weird raider clan that calls itself The Galra. They attacked us a few times and we barely survived.”

Keith saw sincerity and fear in his dark blue eyes as he spoke. He felt bad that such a young person had to travel from the coast on his own to get help, just because some psychos like terrorizing innocent people.

“This request will be a bit different from the ones you usually get.” Both Keith and Shiro moved closer to see what Lance picked out of his bag. He threw a bag of caps on the table, “this is 200 caps up front and then after a year you’ll get 4000 more.”

“After a year!” Shiro exclaimed.

“4000 caps?" Keith asked puzzled.

“Yes a year, we need time to get our defences back up and upgrade them, so we can defend ourselves on our own, up until then we’ll need an extra pair of skilled fighters to help us fend of the Galra clan.” Lance answered Shiro and looked at Keith with concern, “look we’re not that rich, I hope this is going to be enough for you, otherwise I’m sure I can scrap up some more.”

“No! That’s a lot of caps, that’s why I was so surprised,” Keith reassured Lance. “Does that mean we’re going to be living with you guys for a year now?”

“Yeah, you’re both going to get a bed and you’re going to eat with us. You’re going to be living with us, it’s going to be your new home in a way,” Lance smiled at him. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll like it there,” he winked. Keith was surprised by that and felt a warm blush spreading across his cheeks.  _He probably didn’t mean anything in that way,_ said Keith to himself, but the blush stayed.

“We’d be idiots to turn down this deal,” said Shiro. “Very well, finish up your meal in peace and then go rest, we’ll meet in front of the bar at 10 pm sharp,” Lance said as he stood up. As he stood in front of them while packing his things they could see the lean body stature of the fit young wanderer. Keith couldn’t help but stare at him for a few innocent seconds.

“Wait, we’re going at night, isn’t that a bit reckless?” questioned Shiro. “I’d like to get out of the city under the cover of the night, in daylight we’re too exposed to sharpshooters and sitting ducks for hordes of super mutants. We’ll use the darkness to our advantage to sneak through the alleys, then it’s mostly just fields and forest until we reach the Colony,” Lance explained. “Don’t let the bed bugs bite and don’t be late,” he smiled pleasantly and strode by Keith as he left them to their meal.

Lance smelled fresh, Keith noticed, which was weird for someone who walked such a long way from home. Then again Lance looked like someone who watched out for his appearance and hygiene.

Shiro put his arm around Keith’s shoulder and looked up at him. He smiled at him, “looks like lady luck finally smiled our way.” It was nice seeing him smile sincerely for the first time in a long while and Keith felt warm inside because of it. Shiro was like a brother to him so seeing him happy again was relieving. “Let’s finish up here, order some food rations for the way from Ol’ and then hit the hay, we have a long walk in front of ourselves.” Keith nodded and continued eating.

After their meal they asked Ol’ for a rations pack and after that they went up to their usual rent room and fell asleep instantly. There was an old rusty clock from before the War and it was thankfully working on clockwork so it wasn’t useless. Shiro set the clock for 9.30 pm and then joined Keith in the lone small bed. They were worn out from the long walk back from Washington and fell asleep in each other’s embrace.

 

-

 

_Beep…_

_Beep…_

_Beep…_

_Beep…_

_Only the beeping echoed in the tiny room. The walls were a cold shade of steel grey. Getting darker with every beep._

_Beep…_

_Beep…_

_The sound of something hitting metal rang loud in the room. There was a door illuminated by a lone dirty lightbulb at the end of the room. Something red dripping from the top of it and pooling at the bottom._

_Beep…_

_Beep…_

_“Open the door!” a desperate voice screamed from the other side. Something hit the door again. “Open up, please!”_

_Beep…_

_Beep…_

_“Please they’re going to get here soon, open up!” The voice got higher and higher, desperation and fear dripping from every word. Slow footsteps were heard from a far. “No, n-nooo, leave me alone, plea-“ Boom… The voice was cut short by a gunshot._

_The beeping stopped._

_Some time passed._

_And then the door started opening._

_It moved slowly. Revealing green skin covered in red and when it opened fully it-_

“Keith, wake up”

“Whu- what?!” Keith shot up from the bed, a thin layer of sweat covering his skin and his breath short. His heart was beating fast but as soon as he saw a tired Shiro with bead head he calmed down.

“Oh, it’s time already?” Keith questioned. “Yes, well, we still have 20 minutes to get ready and to fully wake up, you should get cleaned up,” Shiro said as he was changing his clothes.

“Sure, be right back.” Keith left the bed and the room. He walked down the hall to the bathroom. His head felt light from the intense dream, his hands we still shaking _. It wasn’t even the worst of dreams_ , Keith thought to himself, _maybe I’m just overreacting._

When he got to the broken down bathroom he found Lance standing there rinsing some sort of cream from his face. “What are you doing?” asked Keith. Lance looked at him surprised, not expecting anyone to be there at that hour, “I’m cleaning my face?”

“What’s that goo?” Keith pointed at the cream on Lance’s hand. “It’s soap, there’s not a lot of it now, but my sister found this book and she thought herself to make this and many other things,” Lance explained and handed the soap to Keith. “You can try it out if you like.”

Keith looked at the substance, not really trusting it, but later decided to take it and give it a go. The block was slippery and gooey, it smelled nice though.  _So that’s why he smells so nice,_ he thought to himself. He moved to the broken sink and turned on the water.

“Wait!” Lance screeched and Keith jumped back. “What?!” “You’re going to get it in your hair!” Lance moved behind him, “let me get that.” His fingers brushed against Keith’s temples and pushed his hair back. The way they moved across his scalp and slightly pulled his hair back sent chills down Keith’s back.

“What are you doing?” he let out a breath he didn’t even notice he was holding. “I’m putting your hair in a bun, duh,” he said as he tied the hair with a hair band.

After he did that he moved to Keith’s side, they locked eyes and Keith’s breath hitched as he saw Lance’s dark blue eyes looking at him intensely, but he twitched away as a small bundle of hair fell into his eye. “Ah shit, guess that little bundle is going to get wet, sorry.”

“I-it’s ok, thank you,” Keith said as he moved that strand away from his eye. “Just wash of the soap and don’t leave any bubbles on your skin or hair,” Lance said as he moved towards the hall. “Oh, and don’t get it in your eyes, stings like a bitch.” “Wait, won’t you wait until I finish?” “No, I have to get my stuff, you can keep this one, I have a ton of soap back home.” He gave Keith a wide toothy smile and disappeared.

Keith only stood there for a few seconds and then he touched the bun Lance made him. He smiled at that and then washed up.

When he was finished he met up with Shiro in their room. They packed up and left. As they went by the counter they bid adieu to Ol’ and met up with Lance at the front of the bar.

They started their journey at the dead of the night, moving like cats in the tight alleys of Philadelphia. Lance knew the way so he was leading the group. He took the safest routs and for the sake of safety they went through the sewer at one point because a group of raiders blocked the road.

When they got out of the city, there was nothing but land and forest in front of them until the Colony. Lance visibly relaxed on the open land and started talking like he was paid for it. He told the two mercenaries all about his home.

The Colony used to be a hotel village consisting of three tall buildings, one of them was larger. When The Great War happened the Colony wasn’t hit hard because it was far away from any major bomb explosions so the Alteans, who were the owners, could rebuild it after and used it as a safe house.

As time passed three families came and the Alteans welcomed them in their home. The McClain’s, the biggest family and also the family Lance belonged to, got the biggest house. They had good fighters and good cooks, one girl was also talented at making different kinds of potions and medicine. Her name was Anna and she was only a year younger than Lance.

The other two families were the Holt’s and the Garett’s. Together they had as many member as the whole McClain family. They were mostly mechanics, doctors and in charge of repairing things. They also had a few good fighters but everyone needed to know how to hold and shoot a gun anyway.

The Colony survived because they had lots of fertile land to use and the strongest of the group went out hunting for food. But this isn’t everything. The Holt family used to be part of a trading organization so they were skilled traders. Katie Holt or Pidge Gunderson, as she’s called in the north, is a young trader, changing her name for her safety and the safety of her family.

She sold everything they made in the Colony. Anna’s creams, medicine and potions, Hunk’s inventions and other things that were needed elsewhere. That way the Colony could get caps for other things they couldn’t make for themselves.

“Ok so, what you’re saying is that your whole family is bigger than the other two combined?” wondered Keith.

“Yeah, there are eleven of us and the others are ten, why?”

“I just didn’t think such big families existed anymore, I mean it’s hard to keep everyone alive.”

“I know, but we really have a lot of luck there, the Colony is probably in better shape than any settlement anywhere in the Wasteland and we have the Alteans to thank for it. A lot of their family members died protecting the place over the years.”

“So this Allura and her uncle are the only ones left?” asked Shiro.

“Yeah, it’s kind of sad really, her dad died in front of her while protecting her, that was before any other family was there so the Colony was really vulnerable. Things are much better now.”

“How is she doing now?” continued Shiro.

“She’s doing much better. She’s doing everything she can to help defenceless people and make this hell liveable. She really is a saint.”

“She sounds really nice,” Shiro smiled.

“Yeah… She’s really hot too,” said Lance with a mischievous grin.

Keith rolled his eyes at that and Shiro laughed, “well she sounds like she has the whole package.”

“She does have a nice package,” Lance wiggled his eyebrows, “if you know what I mean.”

Shiro snorted at that and Keith groaned. “Do we really need to talk about that? She sounds like she’s way out of your league anyway.”

Lance whipped his head around at Keith and looked at him offended. “Excuse you?” he said with sass, “I am a man entering his prime with all the aces in my pocket.” He pointed to his eyes, “these eyes can melt female hearts faster than laser rifles.” His hands moved in his hair, “my hair is softer than silk and my hairstyle turns heads.” He caressed his face, “my skin is clear and tan.” His hands moved down his body, “I have a body of a Greek god and my hips are mesmerizing. And when I talk with the ladies they swoon at my words and honey coated voice.”

He ended his comical presentation with a twirl in the way they were walking and moved forward. Clearly this was a play to lighten the mood but Keith was having none of it. “I have no idea what a Greek god is but I’m sure you’re not a prime example of one, plus you have pimples and your voice gets squeaky when you talk too loud, like right now.” Shiro was concealing his laughter as Lance turned around offended yet again.

“That is not true,” he squeaked, “and I have only one small zit,” he pouted.

“M-hm you just fool yourself,” Keith smiled at him, satisfied with how riled up he got Lance.

“Whatever, I think you’re just jealous.” He moved away from Keith ignoring any response.

“Sure I am.”

“Calm down the both of you, we had our laugh now don’t take it too far, we still need to get to the Colony and then you can go at it,” Shiro decided to be the voice of reason and end the bickering.

“Fine. Where are we anyway?” asked Keith.

“Oh is little Keith scared of the Wasteland?” teased Lance.

“With you leading the way? Terrified.”

“Oh yeah well-” Lance stopped midsentence and straightened up.

“Wha-” Lance put a finger on Keith’s mouth to shut him up and moved a hand in the air to signal Shiro to be quiet too. The Voltron duo had no idea why he did that. Until they heard it. Ghouls. The wailing and moaning of severely irradiated humans was very recognizable. You could hear the suffering of those zombie like beings but you could also hear that the person that used to be inside that body was gone. The radiation left only the badly mutated and rotten body with an aggressive and violent mind.

There was five of them at the bottom of the hill, far enough so they didn’t notice the trio. They were just limping around and making those awful noises.

Lance took his rifle in his hands and aimed at them. The two behind him wanted to stop him, because the noise would bring a lot of attention to them. But Lance pushed the trigger before they could do anything and only faint clicking sounds came from the gun. They noticed that Lance had a silencer on his rifle.

Lance was already packing his rifle back on his shoulder before they could even process the whole thing. The five ghouls were lying dead on the ground and Lance was already moving on. “We really should go on, it’s getting bright so we better make the best of it.”

Keith and Shiro only looked at each other and followed suit in silence.

 

-

 

The day was cloudy so the travellers had good conditions for a relaxed journey. They walked steadily not overreacting with the travel and also not lollygagging all the way. As Lance said they should take advantage of the day and then rest at night.

They had a few run-ins with unpleasant raiders, two more ghouls and an unpleasant blood bug that just wouldn’t leave them alone. They also met a caravan so they bought some food and ammo from the trader.

As it was begging to get dark again, they started looking for good spots to spend the night. They found a rundown repair shop and decided to camp there for the night. Shiro suggested night watches, so one would stay awake and look after the other two. He was the first, then Lance and lastly Keith.

Keith found some benches in the back of the shop and they decided to sleep there. Only one door lead to that and Shiro started his watch there. Keith lied down on the bench next to the door, covered himself with a torn blanket he had with him and rested his head on the bag he was carrying. He shut his eyes and he was out.

 

-

 

_Steel walls touched his back. He was hunched down on the floor, hugging his bent legs. The room was dim and illuminated only with the flickering of a broken lightbulb. It wasn’t the same room. And there was someone with him._

_A woman. A woman with black hair laid on the floor. Her head down and a trail of blood ended at her wounded feet. She had gunshot wounds all over her legs. The trail went from her legs and then it led around the corner._

_“Run,” a faint voice said, “run, save yourself…” The voice belonged to the woman in front of him. Her head lifted from the ground and revealed a gorgeous face. Her long black hair fell down the sides of her head and a few strands rested on her face. Her purple tinted grey eyes stared at him._

_“Keith, please go…” Her voice was weak. She stretched out her arms which were covered in blood._

_Walking. Groaning. Heavy breathing. A shadow appeared around the corner and was getting bigger._

_“Oh no, no no no!” the woman seemed to be talking to herself, “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you…,” she sighed with a defeated breath, tears streaming down her face._

_Two tall figures were now standing in front of them. They were bigger and wider than any man can be. Their faces were covered by shadows. Their skin was an eerie colour of green._

_“Humans think they can run,” said one as he picked up the woman, she was flaying her hands viciously at the tall figure and screaming. “They don’t know we get what we want every time.”_

_The green figure put one hand on each side of the woman and squeezed their fingers deep into her shoulder blades. She started screaming out in pain, moving every part of her body to try and get out of their grip. The other figure stared at Keith and started moving towards him, blocking his view on the lady. A ripping sound accompanied the woman loudest screech._

_The figure in front of Keith bowed down and started moving its big hand to him, the palm almost covering his face completely, “and now we want you!”_

Keith woke up.

He looked around him quickly. Shiro was sleeping on the bench opposite to him, so that meant Lance was on the watch.

He sat up in his bed and took a few deep breaths. He was shaking and needed something to calm him. He took out his knife and held it in his arms. He looked at it and followed the décor with one of his fingers. That helped. He wasn’t shaking anymore, but he wasn’t calm yet. This weird uncomfortable feeling was everywhere. He just stayed there in bed hoping he will calm down soon.

Lance came around the corner fixing his pants, because he was just answering natures call, when he saw Keith. “Nice knife you got there.”

That surprised him and he hid the knife quick, not looking Lance in the eyes and only staring down at the torn blanket.

Lance became worried and felt bad because he thought he entered personal territory not welcomed. “Oh uh, sorry, didn’t know it was personal.” Keith was actually surprised at how compassionately Lance reacted so he looked him in the eyes and explained, “it’s ok, I just don’t like talking about that knife.” He smiled afterwards.

“I understand, you don’t have to.” He smiled back, “what are you doing up?”

Keith was kind of scared to admit it, but no use in lying, he was bound to find out anyway. “I just had a bad dream and needed to calm down.”

“Looks like it was intense, you’re all pale and sweaty, are you sure you’re ok?” worried Lance.

“Yeah, I’m used to that now so don’t worry.”

“So this happens often?” Lance knelt in front of Keith.

Felling his presence comforted Keith and gave him the courage to talk about his problem. Even though they knew each other for a day and Lance even played with Keith’s nerves, he felt at peace with him right now. “Yes, a lot of nights actually,” he said a bit embarrassed, “but I’ve got it under control.”

“It doesn’t seem that way,” Lance said with a concerned look, he reached for his bag and pulled out a vial of some light purple liquid, “this should help you,” he handed it to Keith. “It’ll calm you down, my sister makes them for me if I get stressed out too much, I don’t use it, maybe took it only a few times because it can get you addicted, but once won’t hurt.”

Keith took it in his arm and looked at Lance thankfully. “Thank you,” he said with a weak voice. Lance smiled back at him and put his arm on Keith’s shoulder. “No problem. You know what, when we’ll get to the Colony I’ll ask Janette if she can do something about this.”

“I don’t think that’s needed.”

“Of course it is, this has probably happened in the past right, and probably a lot.”

“It’s not that bad,” Keith whispered as he looked away.

“Then look me in the eyes and tell me that if it’s true.” Keith didn’t move his gaze from the small vial in his hands.

“Look, you can get rid of these nightmares and it’s no problem for her to just look at you and see what she can do.” Lance squeezed his shoulder lightly and Keith looked him in the eyes. “Ok, I’ll do it.”

A big smile spread across Lance’s face. “Good, now take that and get some sleep, I’ll wake you up when it’s your turn,” he said as he stood up and walked away slowly, “tell me if you’ll need anything.”

Keith nodded and felt at peace. This conversation really put him at ease. He was surprised at how sympathetic and almost tender Lance was. Just thinking about it spread warmth around his body. It’s nice to know that people care.

Keith opened the vial and drank the substance. It had no specific taste, maybe it was a bit fresh, like mint. He set his tired head down on his bag and closed his eyes. The image of a compassionate Lance was the last thing that came to his mind before he drifted into deep sleep.

It was getting bright when Keith woke up. Shiro and Lance were talking outside the room, so he decided to join them.

“Good morning sleepy head,” Lance smiled at him and put his two pistols back into their holsters.

“Morning,” he said confused, “wasn’t I supposed to take the last watch?”

“Yes, but I decided to let you sleep since you were having troubles.”

Keith blushed slightly at that and was surprised by Lance’s sensitive side yet again. “Thank you,” he said looking away.

“No problem. We should get going if we want to get there by lunch time,” said Lance while he adjusted the sniper rifle on his back.

“Yes we should,” agreed Shiro. “Tell him about the names while I get our stuff,” he said as he left the two.

“Names?” wondered Keith.

Lance took out his right pistol and held it in front of Keith, “meet Maria,” then he did the same with the left one, “and Rose,” then he spun around so Keith could see the rifle, “and last but definitely not least, Elizabeth.”

Keith only stared at him in disbelief, he didn’t know if it was cute or stupid that he gave his guns names. “Well that’s interesting, got any other guns back home?”

“No we don’t have that much money to buy too much but those of us who know how to use them get more, I hold the record.” A proud smile spread across his face as he put the pistols back where they belong.

“You should name yours too.”

“I have only one pistol and I’m not even that emotionally invested in it.”

“Well, name that bat of yours.”

“I don’t know, what should I name it them?”

“Your bat, your choice.”

Keith took the bat in his arms and looked at it. “John?”

Lance could only stare. “You have a wicked baseball bat, probably the last one, and you’re going to name it John?”

“Shut up, look I don’t know, it’s just a bat and it doesn’t need a name.” Keith put the bat back on his back and frowned.

“I’d name it,” he struck a heroic pose and pointed at Keith, “The Bringer of Justice.”

Keith stared at him with disbelief. “You’re ridiculous,” he said as he pushed past him to go talk to Shiro. A small smile unwillingly found its way to Keith’s face.

“Aw come on, don’t be so boring, name it that and I’ll give you half of my desert for the first month in the Colony,” whined Lance.

Keith smiled at that. Just the thought of getting free desert for a stupid name was amusing to him. His thoughts were cut short because he slammed into something and fell on his ass.

“Sorry! Are you ok?” asked Shiro and bent down.

“Yeah, yeah, Lance was too distracting and I didn’t see you.” Shiro lent a hand to Keith and helped him get up.

“Sure blame it on me,” Lance lifted his hands in defeat, “not my fault you had me on your mind.”

Keith glanced at him worried. “Of course you can’t resist my charm, so I guess it is my fault,” Lance said nonchalantly and moved to get his bag. Keith was relieved that he was just joking and took the opportunity to shoot back.

“The only charming thing about you is your shut mouth.” Lance looked at Keith offended yet again but when he saw Keith’s smile he relaxed and laughed at him.

“You two sure have an interesting way of bonding,” said Shiro with a joyful voice and then he straightened up, “but we really should get moving, I’d like us to get to a safe location as fast as we can.”

Both Keith and Lance agreed and packed up their things. When they had everything they needed Lance took the lead starting another long walk to the Colony. Hopefully they would get there before lunch.


	2. Home Sweet Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio finally make it to the Colony.

The sun was hiding behind thick clouds, casting shadows down at the trio walking the barren road. It was cool, with the breeze lightly blowing in their faces.

Keith never felt more rested than after last night when Lance gave him that vial. Lance on the other hand... He was walking slowly, head bowed down and a slight limp was visible in his steps.

“Are you ok Lance?” questioned Shiro.

“Yeah, I just hope we meet a caravan so I can get some energy tablets from them,” Lance whined.

“You really should have woken me up when it was my turn,” urged Keith.

“You have problems with sleeping and knowing you had at least one night of good sleep makes all this worth it,” he exclaims and points to his tired feet, wobbling beneath him. Keith feeling warmth spread through his chest.

“At least let me carry your bag then,” offered Shiro.

“No you don’t need t- ah!” Lance screamed out in surprise as Shiro startled him when he took his bag and flung it over his shoulder like it was nothing.

“How are you so strong?!” wondered Lance.

“We do have to work out to survive out here,” said Shiro like it was common knowledge.

Lance mumbled something to himself. “What was that?” asked Shiro.

“N-nothing, nothing, let’s move on now,” Lance stuttered with a light blush on his face and strode off the road into a forest.

“Should we be leaving the road? I don’t think the forest inhabitants would like us pretty much,” Keith said as he moved behind him.

“No, wait for me here I just need to take a piss.”

Both stopped. “Oh.” They turned around and walked up to a couple of boulders, sitting on them and stretching their tired feet.

Keith took out his knife and examined it, moving his fingers down the frame of the weapon like he always did.

Shiro looked at him and smiled, “that was sweet what he did.”

Keith looked up at him, confusion covering his features, “what?”

“He left you alone at night so you could get some rest and he gave you that vial.”

Keith blushed at that. “Yes, well, I’m very grateful for that.”

Shiro smiled and paused for a second looking down at the ground. Keith did the same not knowing how to follow up.

“I think he likes you.”

Keith’s head shot up so fast it ruined the bun Lance made a day ago. “What?!”

“It just looks that way. Sorry didn’t mean to work you up. And sorry about the bun.”

“No problem, just don’t say stupid things like that.”

“Why would that be stupid?”

“I’m sure he’s just nice like that and does things for others all the time, even though most of the time he’s pretty annoying.”

“You mean he’s pretty most of the time?” Shiro smiled as he looked at a flustered Keith stirring on the boulder in front of him.

“Noo, that’s not what I mean, he’s not pretty. Well of course he’s attractive but I don’t think he’s hot. I mean he is, but I don’t find him attractive in that way,” Keith was panicking under Shiro’s gaze. Everything that he said only made Shiro smile more and the situation more awkward for him.

“Look just don’t bring this shit up again,” he glared at the mercenary opposite him.

“Calm down, I’m just messing with you.” He stood up and moved to pick up Lances bag as Lance reunited with the other two, “besides it would be awesome to see you with someone after a long time.”

That caught Lance off guard “What?” Keith wanted to dig a hole and bury himself in it.

“Yoo, you have a crush?” Lance became excited, “who’s the lucky girl?”

Shiro snorted at that, Lance oblivious to it. Keith felt relief that Lance had no idea what they were talking about.

“Shiro has delusions, the sun must have fried his brain yesterday. I don’t have a crush.”

Lance’s face fell, almost too disappointed at Keith’s words. Both had so much on their mind after that very short exchange, they didn’t even notice that Shiro was already far away.

They looked at each other and groaned in unison. Keith picked up his bag and guns and then helped Lance get up the small climb back up on the road, so he could wobble after him.

 

-

 

It was noon and the sky was covered with black clouds, Lance feared that it would rain, maybe even a radiation storm would hit. He explained how he got stuck in a shack with his older brother and that it was nightmarish. The lightning made such awful sounds, especially if it hit something made of metal. Not to mention the radiation that made him feel sick.

Keith was hoping he wouldn’t live through that anytime soon, at least not on the open like this.

Lance was constantly saying, a few more minutes’ left, but the Colony never showed up.

“Lance stop saying it’s here if it’s not,” deadpanned Keith.

“But it’s really close now!”

“You just leave the way,” encouraged Shiro.

They heard laughter behind a ruined shack and stopped. Everyone reached for their guns but relaxed as soon as they saw a small robot and two wanderers approaching.

“Hi there, no need for those guns we’re just traders,” said the young man with a cap and white hair escaping from it. He had a strand of grass in his mouth and torn clothes with his abdomen covered in bandages. He looked quite interesting to Keith as he was captivated by his appearance. He was easy on the eyes in a weird junkie wanderer kind of style.

“Really?! Do you have any energy bars? Please tell me you do I need them right now,” said Lance with desperation.

“We do!” smiled the young woman accompanying the man with white locks. She had long blond hair and was breath taking. Her body was curvy and lean at the same time. Eyes were captivating and caught Lance’s attention.

“Y-you do?” he stuttered at first but then regained his confidence, “well I’d like to buy three and five minutes of your attention.” A smug grin appeared on his face and he winked at her.

She giggled, “only five minutes? Not much can happen in that time.”

“Oh, don’t worry. Five minutes is all I need to make you want more,” Lance moved closer, bringing his arm up to ‘fix his hair’ and flex his muscles in front of the young trader.

That attracted Keith attention, making him roll his eyes.

“And you?” approached the whitehaired man, taking Keith’s attention off of Lance, “would you like anything as well?”

Keith looked for Shiro because he thought the trader was talking to him, but he was hunched down next to the small robot, poking it with his fingers.

“Um... y-yeah I guess I can buy some ammunition and stimpacks,” he said slowly and quietly.

“Sure thing.” The man turned away to his robot and opened a container on its back. He took out what Keith needed and turned to Keith, walking towards him. When he stopped in front of him he looked him in the eyes and smiled.

“Don’t need to be scared of me, I don’t bite,” he moved closer to him slipping the merchandise in his hands and whispering in his ear, “unless you like it.”

The trader winked as he moved his head away. Keith only stared at him, then checking around if anyone saw that. Everyone was talking to each other and he sighed in relief.

“Wh-what was that all about?” Keith asked all flustered.

The man put on a shit eating grin and moved a few strands of hair away from Keith’s face, “your gay is shoving.”

Keith’s eyes widened at that. “What?!”

“Don’t worry, it’s not too obvious. I’m just good at spotting things like that.”

“Oh. Well nice um… talent you got there.”

The man only grinned more. “The name’s Rolo, and I’ve been roaming this wonderland for 21 years, ever since I was born. And who are you?”

“Keith, and those are Shiro and Lance. Who’s that with you?” he pointed at the tall blonde and the robot.

“That’s Beezer, our robot companion, and Nyma. Don’t worry, she’s not going to steal your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Keith shot back with a red face. He didn’t even know was it hatred or embarrassment that made his face so hot.

“Does that mean you’re single?” Rolo asked with interests.

“I uh… yeah I guess I am?” Keith couldn’t believe someone was asking him such personal questions and he didn’t know how to respond.

“That’s weird, normally gorgeous single guys like you are hard to get by,” Rolo crossed his arms and made a few steps closer and bowed a bit down to the slightly shorter Keith, “maybe I should take advantage of this opportunity.”

His lips displayed a wide smile only a few centimetres from Keith’s own baffled ones.

“OKAY, WE SHOULD REALLY GET A MOVE ON!”

Both Rolo and Keith looked at the source of the loud scream and saw a bitter Lance looking their way.

Rolo moved away, sending Keith another smile and moving past him, patting him on the back, “hope we meet again.”

Keith was still a bit baffled and then he remembered he forgot to pay. “Wait I still need to pay you.”

“On the house gorgeous,” he waved as he was walking away with his partners.

“What’s up with the sudden burst of anger, Lance?” Shiro asked as he got his gear and other bags together.

“We were wasting time here.”

“But you were the one flirting with that girl.”

“Nu-ugh, Keith was the one having a deep conversation with that junkie rat,” Lance pointed at Keith, nostrils practically flaring with anger.

“What! We were just talking like normal people. And what gives you the right to insult him like that, he was much politer than you are right now,” Keith shot back just as pissed as Lance was.

Lance clenched his fist and virtually shook because he was so angry.

He let out a big sigh, let his fist fall next to his hips and bowed his head. That surprised both Shiro and Keith. He looked at Keith apologetically with the slightest slither of anger visible on his face.

“Look I’m sorry I just get carried away sometimes, I had a bad feeling about that guy and reacted a bit too aggressively.”

Silence fell between the three because no one knew how to follow up. After a few awkward moments Keith spoke.

“It’s ok just don’t be so rude the next time.”

Lance nodded his head as he bowed down to pick up his bag, even though Shiro insisted he’d carry it for him. He started walking onwards with the energy bar in his left hand, the slight limp still visible.

 

-

 

The next half an hour was intense. Lance was walking faster than before, he wanted to get home as soon as possible and not deal with the awkward situation he made before with Keith.

The mood lightened up when Shiro walked face first into a car sign because he wasn’t paying attention. He was following a butterfly with his gaze, and when he explained that Lance and Keith lightened up and laughed.

After that Shiro wished to continue the good mood so he started talking about guns with Lance while Keith listened. He wasn’t interested in guns as much as them so he just looked around the area, surveying for hostiles and also getting accustomed to the new parts of the Wasteland he wondered in.

The nuclear blast must have been far away from this place because most houses only had some holes in them and maybe one in every ten was destroyed completely. Even the flora was nice here. The trees were bigger and had more leaves on them, you could see patches of grass in the fields and even some flowers.

The Colony is really lucky to be in a place like this. Most places are like the desert.

The odd thing about this place is that they met only a few other settlements, and even those weren’t big. People should come here and build up their homes, the conditions here are perfect.

“OH ARTHUR WHERE ART THOU MY PRINCE IN SHINING ARMOUR” Keith’s thoughts were cut short because of Lance screaming at the top of his lungs.

“What’s wrong with you, are you trying to get us killed?” Keith whispered angrily at Lance.

Lance only put up a finger, signalling him to wait.

“Stop yelling you baboon or else you’re gonna get a shiny bullet!” a distant voice sounded just as angry as Keith was.

“That’s my brother, he’s on watch today. I do that all the time, just to piss him off,” he grinned and walked in the direction of Arthur’s voice.

“We’re home?” Shiro asked excitedly.

“Yep this is your new home and work place for the next twelve months,” he spread his arms apart making a grand gesture. “Enjoy your stay.”

Keith and Shiro followed suit and after they walked around the corner they could see it.

The Colony.

It was just as Lance described. A large piece of land, walled off by a two-and-a-half-meter tall junk wall.

They almost sprinted after Lance as he went through the gate that was wide open.

“Dude you really shouldn’t shout so much,” warned a boy that came down the stairs from the wall. He looked like an older and taller version of Lance. He had more muscles and a deeper voice. His face was manlier than Lance’s, probably because of the very short 6 o’clock beard he had.

“But it’s so much fun messing with you,” grinned Lance and turned around to look at the mercenaries he brought with him, “meet Shiro and Keith.”

“Hello, my name is Arthur, I’m this dipshit’s brother,” he said while tapping Lance’s shoulder. “I feel bad for you two. Two whole days on the rode with him must have put suicidal thoughts into your head.”

“HEY, I’m not that bad.”

“It was tough at times but he was pleasant most of the journey,” Shiro smiled.

“See, Shiro thinks I’m great.”

“He didn’t say great, bro. He said pleasant, and not all the time.”

“We made it back home, that’s what matters.”

“Yeah, you’re right. You guys must be exhausted, come with me I’ll get you to the main dining hall and then I gotta get back to my watch.” Arthur turned around and started walking towards the biggest house in the walled off space.

“Thank god, I’m famished,” sighed Lance and started moving with Arthur.

Arthur put a hand in front of him and stopped him, “nu-ugh, you know the rules, you need to step in for me while I’m not on the post.”

“You’re kidding right?”

“Nope. You also need to clean up that mess you made up on the tower from before you left. Now go.”

Lance groaned like he was having his leg torn off. He turned around and went up the stairs to sit on top of the highest part of the wall. It was next to the gate and it looked like some kind of an outpost. Lance sat his sorry ass down on the bench and put his gun up.

Keith could only smile at his misfortune and followed Arthur and Shiro to the dining hall.

Now that he was inside he could really see what a nice place the Colony was. The three houses were spread around a small hut, the largest one was close to a cliff. Around all the houses were little gardens with vegetables and fruit. Keith and Shiro have never seen anything like it. There was even a giant tree behind the smaller two houses, of course there were more trees all around but this one was really big and probably from before the war even.

They made it to a big open place covered in gravel that was probably the front yard where most events happened. To the left were the two smaller houses, to the right the one big one and in front of them was a big hut that Arthur explained was the dining hall. It wasn’t much of a hut as much as it was just a roof supported by a wall and three pillars with tables and chairs underneath it.

This place was very pleasant, and Keith felt like he was going to enjoy living here. Looking at Shiro he saw he was also very pleased with this Colony.

As they entered the hall they saw a small woman with long wavy brown hair, bright blue eyes and a big pure smile. “You’re finally here!” she cheered as she approached Shiro and Lance with opened arms. She enveloped them in a big hug, both were surprised such a small woman could actually have the strength to pull them both down for a hug.

When she decided her crushing hug squeezed enough air from their lungs, she let go of them and stepped back. “You must be famished, here take a seat and dig in.” She moved to the other side of the table and revealed a few plates filled with various dishes.

When the mercenaries saw the food their mouths started to water. They took a seat and started eating.

“Hope you like it.” She sat down across from them and watched with delight as the Voltron duo stuffed their faces with the delicious food.

“It’s delightful miss…” Shiro complimented but stopped because he didn’t know the nice lady’s name.

“Oh, yes… My name is Fiona McClain. I’m the mother of the boy that brought you here. And please call me Fiona, not miss McClain,” she explained with a wide smile.

“Nice to meet you Fiona,” both said at the same time.

“I’m Shiro.”

“And I’m Keith.”

“Nice to meet you both. Was your walk back from Philadelphia tough?”

“Not that much, your son knows the way very good and was very careful,” said Shiro in between bites.

“We only came in contact with a few ghouls and maybe a few raiders, but Lance took care of them before they even noticed us,” added Keith.

“As long as you’re all here safe and well those ghouls don’t even matter to me.”

“Well we’re not all there if you haven’t noticed.” Everyone at the table turned to see Lance walking up to them from the post, Arthur already sitting on the bench above the gate.

“Honey!” Fiona stood up and ran to her son squeezing him in what seem like an even tighter hug than the one Keith and Shiro received.

“Hi mom, how are you?” He looked at here with compassion.

“I’m great and you?”

“Tired and I could really use a rest now,” he said as he turned towards the biggest house. Keith remembered that he said the biggest one belonged to his family. He made one step and turned back to his mom.

“Is Nan better?” he said worriedly.

“Yes she’s better now, she’s up and walking already. You can go talk to her in the flower garden,” Fiona smiled and pointed at a garden behind the hut.

“Ok, thanks mom. I’m gonna go say hi and then head up to bed.” He walked around the corner of the hut. A faint call out to this Nan was heard and nothing more.

Fiona sat back down and took a bite of the food herself, “do you mind? It’s been a long day.”

“No! Eat, it’s your food anyway,” said Shiro.

“Thank you.” She took another bite before continuing. “You boys look very young, how long have you been in the merc business?”

Shiro put down his food so he could explain. “Well about 9 years now, he was about ten and I was about fifteen when we were left to fend for ourselves. It wasn’t easy back then. Not until we found this bar called the Garrison in Philadelphia – “

“Oh yes I know that place, it’s the place we usually go and get mercs for protection or we sell food to them. Ol’Timer probably helped you out right?” intruded Fiona.

“Yeah, he did.”

“We owe our lives to that man, I was so sick Shiro couldn’t take care of me and protect both of us in the Wasteland. Then one day he came by our sewer in downtown Philadelphia and saw us. As soon as he saw me he took me and told Shiro to go with him. Ever since we’ve been in the merc business,” Keith ended by biting in a brahmin steak.

“Oh my, I can’t even begin to imagine what kind of suffering you boys endured.” She watched them sympathetically.

“You don’t need to. The past is in the past,” Shiro smiled at her and continued eating.

Keith watched the mother slack her shoulders and grimace at the food she was eating. “Is everything alright Fiona?”

Her motherly smile found its way back on her face. “Yes,” she reassured, “my mother is on my mind. She was in bad shape when Lance left but she’s better now.”

“What was wrong with her, if you don’t mind telling?” Shiro stopped eating to listen to Fiona.

Fiona put down her food too, suddenly not feeling the need to eat as this topic entered the conversation. “My mother has problems with chems and drugs. She went through a lot of withdrawals in her life but ended up doing chems again. She had one when Lance left, so if he was unpleasant in any way please forgive him.” Now Keith felt bad for yelling at him not even an hour ago.

“Anyway, she’s better now and I hope she won’t have a trip soon. I still have no idea where she gets the chems from.” Fiona sat back in her seat, her motherly grin being replaced with a worried frown.

“Why does she do it?” Keith looked at Fiona concerned.

“This might sound weird but she sees things, like other people that are on the other side of the world, things that happened before the war and sometimes events that are going to happen. We try not to believe it but once this saved us. She dreamt of a big lizard like monster on two legs with two arms, claw like hands and horns. She said it howled right after my youngest daughter fell of that swing,” she pointed at a tire tied up to a branch on the biggest tree.

“As soon as my daughter went on it for a swing everyone in the Colony felt like something was wrong, like something sinister was lurking around us, so we decided to put up extra defences. When she fell of I was with her and I felt my stomach fall with her. Not even a minute after that we all heard it. If everything around me is silent, I can sometimes hear it all over again, just echoing in my head…” she ended the story with a heavy exhale.

Keith and Shiro felt shivers run down their spines. “That’s intense,” was all Shiro could say.

“Did anyone get hurt?” Keith swallowed the big ball that was stuck in his throat from listening to Fiona’s story.

“No. Thankfully Hunk, bless that boy, put up turrets and we all got armed just in case. The thing didn’t even reach the gate. And after that Pidge sold its body parts in the north so we even profited from that.”

“Well that’s good to hear. But I still don’t understand what chems have to do with her visions.” Shiro started collecting his and Keith’s plates but Fiona stopped him.

“It’s ok honey leave them to me.” She stood up and picked them up. “She gets the visions when she takes the chems, and the worst kind of visions happen when she withdraws.” She put all the dishes in her arms and turned away. “Follow me so I can show you to your rooms.”

They stood up and followed her in the biggest house. As they entered it they were baffled by the sight. The house was pretty much intact, what kind of magic protected this place from the Great Wa _r._  The walls were a pastel shade of blue, almost white with small dark blue lines on the edges making pretty waves and other shapes. The furniture was from before the war and it was intact. Even electricity flowed through the place without any noisy generators. The newcomers were staring at everything like it was a god’s sent gift to the Colony.

“How is this place so clean and perfect?” marvelled Keith.

“Oh honey it’s hardly clean, Lance is so lazy he doesn’t want to help around the house.” She picked up a single sock from a chair on their way to the kitchen, “see, this place is a mess.”

“Have you been to the outside lately, people don’t even have an intact roof over their heads,” Keith continued gawking at the house’s interior.

“Yes I know, but that’s no excuse for laziness.” She put the dishes in the sink as soon as she entered the kitchen, “well this is where you go if you get hungry. Now let’s go see your rooms.”

She left the same way she came in and went up the narrow stairway. The two gawkers ran after her, barely keeping up with her. Even though she was smaller and chubbier she ran up those three flights of stair like it was nothing, singing some song that was playing on the many radios around the house.

When they got to the fourth floor they started walking down a long hallway lined with old pictures of people no one recognized. Small tables with random ornaments were on the side of every door.

“This is for one of you the other comes with me,” she pointed at an old door painted white with excitement and hopped down. Shiro opened the door and looked at Keith signalling him to follow Fiona down the corridor.

Keith hesitated for a moment, it’s going to be his first time away from Shiro and he’s not sure how this is going to turn out. Reluctantly he moved after the boisterous woman. At the end of the hall there was a door covered in some old dusty posters that were mostly torn apart. They had portraits of musical legends for way before the war. Keith recognized a few, like The Andrew Sisters, The Chordettes, The Ink Spots, Dion and a few other of which he only knew one, maybe two songs.

“This is where you’ll be staying,” she said as she opened the door. “It’s Lance’s room, your bed is in that corner and the drawer and closet next to it are for you too.” So, he’s going to be spending a year in Lance’s room, with Lance… Whoopty fucking doo dah. Well come to think of it this might not be so bad.

“Oh looky, I’m in the room with mullet man.” Scratch that, this is going to be a pain in the ass.

“Lance, I hope you’ll behave. After all he’s here to protect the Colony, not to be your torture toy.”

“Torture toy?”

“He likes to tease boys and girls his age.”

Keith looked at Lance as he was making his bed. “Oh my, he’s never made his bed on his own before.”

“I have a guest of course I have to make my bed. When he gets used to the swine I am I’ll stop.”

“Just when I thought someone would have a positive effect on you.”

Lance moved to Keith’s side of the room and picked up his stuff then started making his bed.

“You don’t need to do that, I’ll do it on my own,” Keith insisted, but Lance only waved him off as he made his bed.

“Well I’ll leave you two to it then, I need to get the dishes done and then I’ll take a nap. I’ll be in the room that has a blue knit heart on the door, if you’ll need me.” She gave a smile, sent a loving glance at her son and went off.

Lance finished making Keith’s bed and sat on his own merely a meter away from the other one. “There, you can fuck it up now.” He gave a toothy grin and plopped on his back, threw his shoes off, crossed his legs and picked up a comic book.

“Thanks.” Keith moved to his bed looking at it first the putting his bags on it. He took his clothes out of the bags and put them in the wardrobe, all other items he had with him landed in the drawer. He put the bag on the floor and collapsed in the bed. His stomach was full of good food and he was lying in a soft warm bed. What could ruin this moment?

“So, what do you wanna do now?” Oh right, he’s here. Keith brought himself to sit up on the bed to look at Lance. Just as he was about to say ‘I don’t know’ he heard faint screaming from around the corner.

He stood up and reached for his bat. “No!” screamed Lance. “My siblings are coming to see their big brother.” He stood up and fixed his clothes. “Do I look like shit?” Keith nodded. “Well, better than being dead.”

The screaming got louder and louder, small but quick steps were heard and felt on the floor. “Don’t be afraid, they’re just a bit nosy, so if they start poking at you just play along.” Keith only gulped and prepared himself for the storm that are his siblings.

Two small boys and a girl ran around the corner and each one launched her or himself at Lance pushing him on the bed behind him. They were all laughing and screaming in Lance’s ears.

“You’re back!”

“Big broo!”

“Did you kill anyone?”

“Are you gonna stay home now?”

“Who’s this boy here?”

“Slow down munchkins. One at a time.” He managed to sit upright on the bed and put the kids off of him and on the floor. They all sat there waiting for him to speak.

“Ok, yes I’m home, yes indeed I am your big broo! We won’t talk about killing here, yes I’m going to stay home now and that boy over there is Keith,” he pointed at him and all three kids turned their attention towards Keith.

“He’s pretty,” said the little girl. Keith blushed at that and thought to himself that he really blushes a lot if a small girl can make him turn red.

Lance chuckled “Keith meet the youngest three of my family. This is Amillia,” he pointed to the small girl watching Keith with a shy smile. Then he pointed at the slightly taller boy, “this is Leo, he’s my cousin but I think of him as a brother.” Leo smiled at Lance who pointed at the smallest boy in the room. “And this is Theodor, the youngest in our family.”

“Hi, there,” Keith waved awkwardly.

“It’s ok, they're just kids don’t need to be afraid,” Lance said as Leo climbed up Keith bed and touched his gloves. “Why are you wearing old gloves?”

“That’s what I’ve been wondering the last two days too, why DO you wear fingerless gloves?”

“Um.”

“Is it because it makes you feel awesome?” challenged Lance with a big grin.

“No, it’s ugh… I just found them somewhere and I liked them. Plus, it helps with the bat so it doesn’t slip out of my hands.” Keith set his hands behind him so the group of four kids wouldn’t look at them.

“You have a nice jacket, why is it so red?” asked Amillia while tugging lightly at it.

“Well, um, it was made that way.”

“Why do you have such long hair if you’re not a girl?” Theodor asked as he pulled the hair band out of Keith’s messy hair.

“Oi, leave his hair alone. He can have long hair if he wants to. Give that band to me, I need to fix his hair.” Lance stood up and took the hair band from his brother’s hands. “That is if you want me to put your hair in a bun again?”

Keith thought about it, he liked his hair just the way it was but the hair band did make it easier for him to see through his mullet. And his neck wouldn’t be burning up. But the main reason he let Lance do it was because he liked how his long fingers grazed though his hair the first time he did it.

“Yes, please,” Keith smiled up at Lance and he returned the favour. “Ok munchkins, Keith had enough of poking for at least an hour, now leave us alone so I can make his hair.” The three children whined and moaned as they left the room. “Don’t worry I’ll come play catch in a minute.”

“Why did you tell them to leave?”  Keith moved a bit so Lance could climb behind him on his bed. “I saw you weren’t really feeling it, meeting the youngest isn’t for someone who’s exhausted from a two-day trip,” Lance said as he got on his knees behind Keith. He put the band between his teeth and started collecting Keith’s long black silky hair.

“Am I interrupting anything?” Keith’s gaze shot to the door where a lean young girl leaned on the doorway. He felt a small sting as he pulled his own hair from Lance’s grasp whit that sharp whip of the head.

“Anna!” exclaimed Lance as he shot off the bed and ran to pick her up in a vicious hug. “Calm your horses Lance it’s only been a few days,” she almost screamed through her laughing.

Lance put her down and dragged her to his bed. He sat her down and went back to where he was before she entered. “Keith, Anna. Anna Keith,” he pointed to both two times and then resumed with his hair collecting. Anna stretched out her hand to Keith who accepted it with his own.

“Nice to meet you,” smiled Anna.

“Likewise.”

“So where did this loon find you?” wondered Anna as she made herself comfortable on Lance’s bed.

“I’m not a loon, and that’s my bed, so don’t get too homey,” Lance spoke through his teeth that were holding the hair band.

“Yeah, yeah whatever,” she waved him off and took a glance at Keith.

“We met at the Garrison. I did not expect this when I saw him and heard that he was turning down every other mercenary,” Keith said while moving his head the way Lance was pulling his hair.

“Well yeah I did, I couldn’t just hire the first guy I met. I’d be bringing a dangerous man to my home, no way in hell am I letting anyone suspicious and murderous in the same place as my family,” Lance finished up Keith’s bun and then flopped down beside him on the edge of the bed.

“Makes sense, but how did you know me and Shiro were the right ones for the job?” Keith looked at him and touched his bun to see how it ended up. It was the same as two nights ago. “Thanks by the way,” he smiled.

“No problem. See you two were nothing like those thugs in that bar, everyone else looked like they would do the job and then rob you afterwards, or maybe even kill you, plus Ol’timer vouched for you. You can’t get a better recommendation than from him. He’s seen scum and he knows well.” He tapped Keith on the thigh and looked at him sincerely.

Keith felt warm, not just because Lance was touching him, but because Lance truly believed he was good. Also he finally has a place that he can call home, even if it’s just for a year it’s longer than any other rat hole he and Shiro had to live in. And up until now he liked the inhabitants, even though he was still a bit scared of the kids, but he’s sure he’ll get accustomed to them.

“Wait, two?” Anna sat up on the bed, “who is this Shiro?”

“He’s my partner and co-worker. He’s down the hall in the room with the plain white door.”

“How long have you been together?”

“About nine years now.”

“Nine years! Wow that’s a lot, how do you keep the relationship going, and how old are you anyway? You look a bit too young to be in a relationship for nine years already,” she leaned in with excitement.

“No, no, no we’re not in a relationship, he’s like my brother and we’re just like business partners,” Keith shook his hands in front of Anna.

“Oooooh, it’s just that you said partners and co-workers, never mind,” she laughed slightly and sat back on the bed.

“Sorry to disappoint,” Keith smiled at her. “No you don’t disappoint at all, don’t worry,” she smiled back.

“Hey, aren’t you the one that makes those creams and potions?” He rested his elbows on his knees and supported his heavy head with his arms.

“Yeah, did he tell you that?” she pointed at Lance.

“Yes I did. Why wouldn’t I mention the best sister ever?” Lance opened up his arms and made a grand gesture towards Anna accompanied with the biggest smile Lance could cook up.

“Aw you’re so sweet,” she cooed, “but I’m still not taking your shift on the watch tower so cut the crap.” Her facial expression went from adoration to annoyance in just about a second.

Lance pouted and Keith barely concealed his laughter. Lance put an arm around Keith and that shut him up. “Well now you can meet the person responsible for one of your nights of good sleep.”

“You took the vial?” Anna went wide-eyed.

“Yes and it helped me a lot, slept like a baby.” Keith smiled at here and moved Lances hand from around his shoulders. Lance looked at him offended and Keith only smiled. But he wasn’t sure if it was all just a play or was Lance genuinely sad that he did that.

“I’m glad it helped you, the first few vials I made were useless so this I a great success actually,” she made a proud pose, similar to the ones Lance did for the past two days. She really was his sister.

“Why did you need to take them though?” her tone changed back to her serious one.

Keith glanced at Lance and he only looked at him with sympathy. Surely he could tell her too, it’s not such a big secret.

“I have troubles sleeping. Not that I can’t sleep but when I do I get these nightmares that usually wake me up in the middle of the night and then I can’t fall back to sleep.” Keith stared at the warm wooden floor beneath him that was covered with a fluffy rug. Of course Lance would have a rug that looked like a second bed.

“Oh my god, maybe Janette could help him out?” she looked at Lance worriedly.

“I was just about to say that. After I talked with Nan I went so see Janette and told her about your problem.” Keith looked up at him with gratitude. “If you want we can go there right now.”

“Um…” Keith thought about it for a while, while Lance and Anna waited next to him. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to face these nightmares but this was just an exam, or so he thought. It’s better to get rid of your problem as soon as you can. “Yes, let’s go.”

“Great!” Lance smiled at him, his smile went from ear to ear. He jumped off the bed and lent Keith a hand. Keith accepted it and stood up. He followed Lance and Anna through the door and he hoped that this Janette could really help him out.

He was thinking about the exam so much he didn’t even notice Lance and him were still holding hands. Tightly.


	3. Making a Nest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith gets to see the doctor and then Lance gives him a tour.

Keith thought about how the song playing on the radio felt right. The trees were really the prettiest here, he heard a few dogs in the Colony but haven’t seen any yet, the kids were full of energy, the joke part would probably cover Lance and the people he met so far were genuinely happy. And this was their home. His too. Even if only for a year.

He, Lance and Anna moved past Shiro’s just as he was leaving it. When he saw them his eyes moved to Keith first and then down his left hand. When he looked up at him again he gave Keith a heartfelt smile.

Keith wasn’t sure why that was but when he looked down he saw that Lance was still holding his hand and he was holding back tightly. He panicked. He didn’t know what to do so his brain just took over. And when that happens it’s not necessarily a good thing.

“Hold up!” he almost screamed. Both Lance and Anna bounced a bit at Keith’s loud voice and looked back at him. “What?” asked Lance with a worried expression covering his face.

“I need to scratch myself,” Keith said nonchalantly and awkwardly moved his hand from Lance’s hold and moved it upwards “My head is itchy,”Keith mocked himself in his thoughts for making such a lame excuse.

“Oh… I thought you had second thoughts about the exam.” Lance held the hand he held Keith with near his chest. Keith mentally facepalmed after Lance said that, if he said that it would have been a thousand times better. “Well, unless you have anything else to do maybe we can move on now.” Lance lowered his hand and waited for a response.

“Um y-yeah we can go,” Keith bowed his head in embarrassment and heard snickering. He looked up expecting Shiro to be the one giggling at his failure but he saw Anna covering her mouth. “Lance lead the way,” she said and moved behind Keith. Lance spun around and moved to the stairs. “That was smooth,” Anna whispered in Keith’s ear. He twitched away and looked at her suspiciously but she only had her gaze fixed to the stairway with a small grin on her face. It looked like she was concealing her laughter.

Keith only hoped nothing scandalous went through her mind. Maybe he’ll have a talk with her on his own soon to see what that was about. “Watch your step,” she said with a low voice and that brought Keith out of his thoughts, but not fast enough. He missed the first step and tumbled down the stairs. Halfway down he added an unsuspecting Lance to the rolling pile of teenage awkwardness. Lance yelped like a five-year-old girl when he felt Keith slam into him.

When they reached the end of the stairs Lance landed on his back and Keith fell face first onto him. Lance groaned out as Keith landed on him and looked at him surprised. “What happened?” he said with a high squeaky voice.

“I-I uh missed a step and fell... sorry, really sorry,” Keith started picking himself up, “are you ok, does anything hurt?” he stretched out his hand to pick up Lance who accepted it with a small laugh.

“You sure are a confused guy, does this happen often?” He ended with a small giggle when he was standing up straight.

“No, not at all, I guess the fact that I’m gonna talk to the doctor about my nightmares messes me up a bit.”

“Are you guys ok?” asked Anna as she ran down the stairs followed by a worried Shiro.

“Yeah, we’re ok. Mullet’s just a bit scared.” Lance smiled at her sister.

“Can you call me something other than mullet or mullet man?” Keith looked at him annoyed.

Lance started humming while looking at Keith from head to toe. He felt a bit uneasy. “Guess I’ll call you big eyes, because you know, you have big eyes.”

“How about you call me Keith?”

“Whatever big eye mullet let’s go.” Lance waved him off and started down another flight of stairs. “This time try not to kill us,” he said with a grin and moved downwards.

Keith groaned as he followed him. “Is he always like this?”

“You get used to it, actually you get immune to it,” Anna complied.

They made their way down the stairs on two feet each. Keith had to assure Shiro that he saw every step every time they started a new flight of stairs.

They exited the house and moved to the centre of the Colony where a big man stood. He wore a yellow jacket and as soon as he looked their way he shouted at Lance with a big smile plastered on his face.

“Brooo, you’re back?” He parted his hands and moved to Lance to envelope him in a big bear hug. Lance hugged back as much as he could and answered with his own bro code greeting. “Brooo, I missed you.”

“It’s been only a few days but sure, I missed you too.” The large man who actually looked their age up close let go of Lance and looked at Keith.

“Is he the mercenary?” he pointed at him excitedly.

“Yes. Meet Keith. Keith, meet my best friend Hunk.”

“Hi.” Keith smiled and extended his arm but was surprised when Hunk surrounded him with his arms and squeezed him in a warm and soft lock.

“Welcome to the Colony dude, you’re gonna love it here. If you need anything connected to mechanical stuff just call me, kay?”

“Thank you, and nice meeting you,” Keith smiled because the hug was very pleasant, but it had to end. When Hunk let him out of his grip Lance said they had a rendezvous with Janette so they had to move.

“I’ll catch up with you later, still gotta tell you about this hot chick I met on the way back,” Lance said smugly and Hunk only laughed. He wasn’t really interested in that but he loved listening to Lance talk excitedly about anything.

They said their goodbyes and parted. Lance and Keith went in the pastel-green house alone because Shiro said he wanted to have a look around the place and Anna went in the garden for some spices.

“Do I need to know anything about this Janette before I met her?” asked Keith.

“She’s really nice, smart, talks a lot and likes lemon cakes, oh sometimes she squishes her patients’ cheeks, feels like a grandma meeting her grandchild after a year,” Lance said as he opened the door to the house. Keith giggled at that as they walked down the long hall up to a door with a sign that said ‘clinic’ drilled on it.

Lance knocked hard. “Janette it’s us.” Movement was heard from the other side and after some clattering the door opened, revealing a woman in her late thirties with short caramel coloured hair. She wore big glasses and underneath them was a wide smile.

“So you decided to come today already?” she said excitedly. “Come in, come in. My name is Janette, I’m the one that keeps these people healthy and fixes them up if they get hurt or sick. If you need any help or medical supplies, your welcome here any time.” She moved away from the door and went to her desk where she sat down and signaled Keith to come inside.

He moved in but stopped when he noticed Lance wasn’t following him inside. He looked back and saw Lance ready to leave. “Don’t worry, she doesn’t bite. You’re in good hands,” he said as he closed the door and left.

“W-why did he leave?” Keith questioned.

“We’re going to be talking about sensitive topics now and I guess he didn’t wanted to pry.” _Well that’s nice_ , Keith thought to himself. _Lance really is a masterpiece, he can go from calling you stupid names to actually caring about your feelings. Not that that’s weird but for someone who knows him only two days, that’s impressive._

“Sensitive topics?”

“Yes, you can sit down and we can begin if you’re ready.”

Keith nodded and took the seat on the other side of Janette’s desk.

“So let’s get started. For how long have you been having these nightmares now?”

“Since I was about 10 years old.”

“What are they about?”

Keith already wanted to stop. “Is it necessary to know what exactly they’re about?”

“If you don’t want to talk about what specifically goes on in them, that’s ok, but I’d like to know if they are all new to you or do they remind you of anything?”

“They remind me of something.”

“Do they remind you of a person, an object or an event?”

Keith paused for a bit again. “Of an event.”

“I’m guessing that event happened when you were 10 years old, am I right?”

“Yes,” he answered with a quiet voice.

Janette sat back in her seat intertwined her fingers in front of her mouth and sat quietly.

“Well I have good and bad news for you. The good news is that I can get rid of your problem. The bad news is that the cure for it either really hard to get by or a therapy that takes a long time and isn’t 100% successful.”

Keith’s eyes widened and he almost leaped forward when he spoke, “what are the solutions?”

“There’s actually only one but we can get it in two ways. We can cure your nightmares with imagery rehearsal treatment. We’ll be removing the troubling images from that past event in your memory and putting in new ones. You’ll still remember what happened but you won’t have nightmares.” She stood up and pulled out a folder with the letters TMD written in red on it. She opened it up and displayed the pictures to Keith.

“Now one way is to get you up to Boston to a place called The Memory Den. There we can use their memory pods to insert good scenes in to that memory and we’ll be done in about three minutes or maybe less, depending on how much memory we have to change. You’ll be laying in these egg shaped pods. You won’t feel a thing so don’t worry. The downside to it is that we would have to get up to Boston, which is dangerous, and when we’ll get to the Den we’ll have to pay a lot if we’ll want to use them.” She pulled out another folder filled with nice pictures and displayed those to Keith as well.

“The other option is to do it the old fashioned way. We do it here, with these pictures and maybe even some medication. The downside to this is that it takes a long time. Sure, the nightmares will get better but there is no 100% guarantee that they will go away. Also if the exercises we’ll do here won’t help we’ll have to use drugs which is not something I wanna see.” She sat back down and watched Keith mould over all this new information.

“I can’t leave the Colony if I made the contract. What if we do this therapy for a year here and if it doesn’t help then we can go up to Boston?” he suggested.

“Very well, you tell me when you’re ready and we can begin, but I suggest you get to know the people here and get used to the Colony. It’s better if you feel safe and at home so the treatment will have a better effect.” She stood up and moved to his side putting a hand on his shoulder. “If you want I can show you the Colony or would you rather go with Lance since you know him more than any of us?”

“I think Lance said he wanted to show me around the place.” Keith smiled up at her and stood up. “It was a pleasure meeting you and thank you so much for helping me.”

“Likewise, but don’t thank me just yet, I haven’t done anything,” she said humbly.

Keith nodded in understanding and they said their farewell. He left the clinic and the house to look for Lance. He bumped into Hunk and decided to stick with him until he found him.

Hunk was a ball of pure positive energy, he talked about everything with passion and Keith liked that about him. He found out that Hunk made the turrets that protect the Colony. There’s three of them always operating and two more on reserve just in case if something really bad happens. He’s also working on new improved ones. Besides turrets he’s really good with gun modification. He can turn a plain gun into something so interesting Keith can’t even begin to imagine. He told Keith that he once made a gun that could fire teddy bears with so much force they could blow up a human head to bits and pieces.

Moving away from the mechanical and violent stuff, Keith found out Hunk is a master cook. He even helped made the lunch he and Shiro had when they arrived earlier today. Hunk led him to the big tree behind the two small houses and they sat on the swigs that were tied to it. They sat there and chatted freely for about an hour before Lance arrived in some plain clothes. A blue jumper and some really tight blue jeans. Too tight if you ask Keith.

“Hey how was it with Janette?” he stopped in front of Keith looking at him with a warm smile.

“It was great, we found out what’s causing the problem and we’re going to begin solving it as soon as I get used to living here,” Keith smiled back at him.

“What problem?” asked Hunk worriedly.

“I have chronic nightmares and I lose a lot of sleep because of it.” He pointed to the barely visible black circles under his eyes. “It’s not so bad today but other days it can look like someone punched me in the eye.”

“Wow that’s intense,” said Hunk with concern.

“Yeah, but I hope it’ll get better with Janette’s help,” Keith smiled at him.

“I’m sure it will,” Lance injected.

“Hey did you show him around the place already?” Lance asked Hunk.

“No, he said you wanted to do it.”

“Aw my little Keith wants me to show him around.” He cooed at Keith who hid his face in his shoulder trying to conceal the light blush creeping on his cheeks.

“Yeah well you wanted to show me around really badly. You were talking about giving me a tour the whole way from Philadelphia.” Now it was Lance’s turn to turn red and stutter a witty reply. Something about not caring who showed him around but that went unnoticed.

The funny part was that both were oblivious to the other being flustered, but Hunk noticed and was a bit surprised by it.

“Well I have a turret to get back to. You guys have fun on your little tour.” He smiled at both as he walked away.

Lance awkwardly scratched the back of his head and coughed, “I guess we can start with the wall and move around it so you can get a full view of the Colony.”

Keith agreed to that and let Lance lead the way.

So they began on the edge of the cliff where the wall started and moved with it. Lance was explaining to Keith how the watch regime worked and how he’s going to contribute to it. He showed him where the turrets on top of the wall were and how to get to them if he needed to check up on them. They went past the gate and waved at Arthur who was still on the outpost.

When they went around the gate they ended on the cliff again where the wall ended. This left the Colony with an open part of the cliff where the wall didn’t stand.

“The sunrises here are amazing, if you want we can wake up at 5.30 one day and have a look, my mom can make us breakfast packs the night before too,” Lance said as he looked out at the sea.

Keith nodded, really liking the idea of watching the sun rise from the sea.

When they spent enough time staring at the ocean Lance decided to continue the tour.

He lead Keith through a garden that was filled with vegetables, fruit, flowers and other plants that were probably Anna’s herbs and spices. At the end of the garden they made it to the dining hall again. Behind the dining hall there was a pen and inside there were a few of those poor towheaded cows that were called brahmins. Lance explained they use them for the Holt caravan. Janette’s husband Sam, daughter Katie also called Pidge, Lance’s dad Allan and Hunks sister Verona went up north a week ago to trade with other caravans. Sam and Katie are the traders and skilled at bargaining while Allan and Verona were there for protection.

They had more Brahmin so they didn’t have to go on every caravan expedition because it would be too exhausting for the poor animals.

After Keith petted one he noticed three dog houses and asked Lance if they had dogs.

When Lance heard the question he put two fingers in his mouth and whistled so hard Keith thought his eardrums will erupt.

A few second later Keith heard the dogs and then saw three big mutts run around the hall. They started circling around Lance while he caressed their fur coats. One slowly approached Keith who extended his hand so the dog could sniff it. After it did that it started to rub itself on Keith and twirl around his legs.

“Aww, she likes you,” Lance cooed as the other two dog did the same to Keith. “They don’t do that unless they think the person is worthy of their affection, so you can consider yourself very special.”

Keith had a big smile plastered on his face as he was petting the three dogs. “What are their names?”

“Lassie, Tom and Jerry. I named them after some TV shows from before the war. Wish I could see them though, the posters I found in the library looked awesome,” Lance said excitedly.

“Maybe if we go scavenging we can look up a video store and see if there are still any intact cassettes in them,” suggested Keith.

Lance made a finger gun motion at him and nodded, “not a bad idea.”

After the dogs calmed down they continued the tour. Lance was talking about the buildings and who lived in them and what you could find in them. He showed Keith all the small playgrounds they have plagued all over the Colony so the kids have a lot to do. The dogs followed them all the time. After the full tour they ended up at the cliff just as the sun was beginning to set behind the trees to the west. As it was getting dark Keith noticed small green glowing bottles all around the place.

“What are those?” he pointed at the nearest one.

“Glow in the dark goo bottles. Matt, Janette’s son, made them so it would make the whole Colony homier. He’s obsessed with lights, just look at the houses.” Lance redirected Keith’s gaze at the houses that were decorated with a few lines of Christmas lights.

“Wow that looks really nice.”

“Wait until it’s Christmas, he goes bananas when snow starts to fall.”

“Can’t wait,” giggled Keith.

Lance only gazed at him for a few seconds and when Keith noticed and looked his way he stammered, “uh, if you’re done with the light gazing we can go inside.”

“Y-yeah, sure let’s go,” he stuttered and started walking towards the McClain household.

 

-

 

The sun set and dinner was already on the table in the notorious hall. Keith now had a chance to meet the others. He sat next to Matt, the light mage as he called himself, he invited Keith to his room so he could see the lights display he had. Keith accepted the offer. But before they could go there he got acquainted with Carla and Finch. Fiona’s sister and her husband. Anthony and Kate, Hunk’s parents. And the owners of the Colony. Coran and Allura.

Allura was just as Lance described her. A goddess. Her tan skin looked perfect in the clothes that she was wearing. Her long white hair looked like it should not exist, how did she even get a volume of hair like that, it’s not fair. Her eyes were captivating and her voice sounded like a choir of angels singing with an accent he didn’t know but fancied none the less.

Coran on the other hand was a goof. He played with the kids all the time. Saying choo choo five times a minute to the youngest member of the family. Playing with his food so Fiona had to school him about eating manners. He had a wacky moustache that matched his character. He also sported the same accent as Allura but his sounded like he was telling a joke all the time.

When he met everyone and finished up his meal he put his plate where everyone did after they finished and left with Matt just as Lance started telling about the girl he met. Lance talking about girls wasn’t anything new to anyone, even Keith and Shiro were getting used to it.

Matt took him to his room and sat him down in pitch darkness. Then he flipped some switch and the room lit up. There was no plain light but only decoration lights and some lightbulbs that had funky shapes and different colours.

Keith was amazed by the lightshow he got and smiled like a small child. Matt sat on the bed with him and started talking to him. Matt looked like his mother but with shorter hair. The conversation was nice and relaxed.

“So what do you think of Lance?” Matt asked out of the blue. Keith was surprised that Lance became the next topic right after their conversation about ugly molerats.

“He’s um… interesting. Like he can get on my nerves like no one ever has and then he can turn into a very compassionate person. Like even though we knew each other for only a day, he already took my turn of the night watch and let me sleep in peace,” Keith said with a soft voice.

“Yeah he’s normally annoying but he’s a good person. And he does like you and Shiro a lot. A lot more than the last mercenaries we had here two years ago.”  Matt fixed his glasses and stood up.

He moved to the window and then turned to Keith. “I think he’s looking for you.”

“What?” Keith raised an eyebrow.

“Well he’s running around like a chicken without a head.” He opened the window and they could hear Lance calling out for Keith. “And screaming your name.” Matt smiled at him.

“I think you should go down before he starts really worrying about you.”

“Yeah sure.” He stood up. “It was nice talking to you, hope we can do it again soon.”

“Yeah, goodnight!” Matt shouted at Keith as he left the room.

Keith sprinted down the stairs, said goodbye to Janette and left the house. He called out for Lance and he appeared like Santa Claus from around the corner.

“There you are, where have you been?” he said almost worriedly.

“Matt invited me to his room to show me his lights, but then we started talking and time just went by.”

“Oh well it’s nice that you’re socializing but it’s really late and my mom likes it if we’re all home by midnight.” Lance moved close to Keith. “What were you talking about though?” he smiled.

“About molerats, lights, you guys and things like that.” Keith started to move to the blue house and Lance was on his left.

“Those are very different subjects.”

“We had a lot of time.”

“M-hm, well we should get inside soon because my mom is going to freak otherwise.”

Keith nodded and took a last glance at the lights outside the house before entering. The whole family was already inside, the kids sound asleep so the others were mingling with Shiro quietly.

Lance and Keith joined them and for an hour they were just talking in the living room with one radio turned on at a low volume. One by one they started leaving, Keith and Lance left with Anna, leaving Fiona and Shiro to talk on their own.

They cleaned themselves up and got ready for bed. They got in their beds and talked for a bit. The conversations were silent and relaxed easing them both into slumber.

“Lance why did you get so mad when we met those two traders?”

Lance fell silent for a few seconds “I- I thought that white haired dude was harassing you.”

“Oh well thanks but he was really nice.” Lance was worried about him. _That kind of answers the question._

“But why was he all up in your face then?”

Keith started feeling really hot and flustered. “H-he was actually f-flirting with me, if I can call that flirting” he stuttered.

“He did what!?” Lance shouted out.

“Shhh you’ll wake up the kids,” Keith calmed him down.

“He was actually flirting with you!” he hissed through his teeth.

“Yeah, why is that so weird? I mean you flirted with that girl.”

“Y-yeah I know but, I’m guy and she was a girl.”

“So what?” Keith challenged Lance.

“Well yeah I guess that’s cool too, I just never witnessed anything like it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, so does that mean you’re…?” Lance didn’t know how to end the sentence.

“Gay?”

“Yeah.”

“Yep, I’m gay.”

“Oh, you didn’t look like you are.”

“We don’t actually wear signs that point that out.”

“Yeah I know I just mean you’re not like …”

“I know what you mean.”

They laid there in awkward silence.

“Um I’m sorry if I offended you in any way,” Lance started.

Keith let out a small giggle. “How exactly did you offend me?”

“I don’t know, maybe because I shouted,” whined Lance.

“No it’s ok, you did well.”

“Ok.”

More silence.

Lance moved to lay on his side so he could see Keith.

“So how did you know?” he asked.

“I just did.” Keith did the same so they were staring at each other. “I noticed I liked guys more than girls. Also one time I had the chance to go all the way with a girl and I just froze, I knew I couldn’t do it. Not because I was scared but I just felt like it wasn’t what I like. No need for me to tell you how awkward it got after I froze up. But then I met this guy who told me there’s nothing wrong with me and showed me a few things.”

“What did he show you?” Lance was getting interested in Keith’s story more than he would like to admit.

“Well we kind of tried out everything, well probably not everything. But the point is I liked it. And I liked him. And that’s how I found out.”

“Wow.”

“You never thought about it?”

Lance visible tensed up. “I- ugh I never really thought about it. Ok, that’s not true I did. But not like ‘am I gay?’ but more like ‘is it weird that I think that guy is kind of hot?’” Lance was moving in his bed uncomfortably.

“Hey no need to feel intimidated, you can tell me if you want to,” Keith said with compassion.

“I know but I’m just kind of scared, you know, like what if I start liking guys if I start thinking about it too much.”

“It’s for the best to question everything, you never know what you like and maybe if you won’t try it out you won’t be able to enjoy your life as much as you could have.”

“True, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to find out.”

“No one’s forcing you to, just take your time. And if you have any questions you can ask me now,” Keith beamed at him.

Lance could only return the smile. “Thanks…”

Another moment of silence went by.

“So who was this guy that showed you the gay way?”

Keith burst out laughing.

“What, what did I say? It’s a valid question,” Lance defended as if he was a small child defending his sandcastle.

“I know, I know it’s just that,” he let out another laugh and clutched his stomach, “The Gay Way,” and then he continued laughing.

Lance was giggling as well now. “I didn’t know how to put it in different words, come on don’t make fun of me.”

When Keith calmed down he sat up in his bed. “It was this guy in Washington, me and Shiro were protecting a group of travellers and scavengers. He was two years older than me and had some experience. He started it by flirting with me and when he saw that I didn’t quite get the concept of a guy flirting with a guy, he decided to clarify it for me.”

“Did you guys go all the way?”

“Um, y-yeah we did.”

“And that’s how you knew?”

“That’s how I knew.”

“You were lucky to get someone like that.”

“Yeah I guess, it didn’t last though. Me and Shiro had to leave when the contract ended. I think his dad wanted us to leave as fast as we could because he knew that me and his son weren’t just friends.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“No problem, how about we change the subject?”

“If you want to,” Lance smiled and obliged.

They talked about why Keith hadn’t seen his Nan yet. Lance explained that she didn’t feel good and stayed in her room where she rested and ate her dinner in peace. He said they could go visit her tomorrow. Keith was glad he was finally going to meet this interesting woman. He did feel a bit uneasy about the whole seeing in the past and future thing but he didn’t put much thought in it.

Their talking got really quiet and their relaxed conversation caused them to drift off into deep sleep not long after they started yawning.

 

-

 

Lance woke up to the sound of Keith’s heavy breaths. He was moving in his bed and making small voiced that sounded like quiet whimpers.

Lance sat up on his bed rubbing his eyes and the staring at Keith’s bed. “Keith?” he said groggily.

When his eyes sight adjusted to the dark he saw that Keith was shifting in his bed uncomfortably and letting out more little noises.

Lance decided to move closer and see what he could do. As he got close he saw that his eyes we’re moving rapidly under his shut eyelids.

“Poor guy,” Lance whispered to himself. He knew he had nightmares because he saw it with his younger siblings, but theirs were nothing compared to what Keith was going through.

He sat on the bed with him and moved Keith’s hair away from his face. It was like Keith calmed down a bit just because Lance touched him.

Keith’s had started to tremble and move alongside his body. Lance took hold of it and squeezed it with both hands. He knew what to do as he did it with Leo, Theodor and Amillia. But as much as he squeezed and caressed Keith, he did not seem to fully calm down.

Lance said ‘to hell with it’ to himself and lifted the covers. He moved to Keith and embraced him in a big hug. That seemed to work as Keith’s breathing slowed down and he stopped moving around, one of his hands even moved up to Lance’s embrace.

When Lance saw that he decided to move back to his bed and leave the dreamer alone. He loosened up his hug and moved away. He was about to stand up as Keith started moving again, his breathing getting faster as well.

Lance decided to give him another hug, but this time Keith hugged back, like a small koala clutching to a branch because it’s afraid it’ll fall off. Lance smiled at that and decided to stay in the warm embrace.

He covered them up with the blanket and closed his eyes. Keith’s relaxed breathing was the last thing he heard as he fell asleep.


	4. Baggage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance go outside and Lance reveals a bit of history about their stay at the Colony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SOO.. it's been more than a month since I last updated, that's because school is kicking my ass and I also accidentaly deleted this chapter so I had to rewrite it. So this one may feel rushed or not really good altogether, but I hope y'all will enjoy it! ALSO THANK YOU FOR THE 1000+ HITS AND ALL YOUR KUDOS AND COMMENTS, LOVE YOU ALL! <3

Rays of sunshine streamed through the lidded window of Lance’s room and landed on Keith’s face. The boy shifted as the light illuminated his face but he found out he was confined and could not move so freely. He opened his eyes and waited until his vision cleared to see arms around his waist.

He whined groggily and shuffled in the embrace only to become aware of the body behind his back. His heart beat quickened and eyes went widened. Lance was lying next to him with his hands around his waist. Keith had no idea what to do, so he waited, and waited, and waited and nothing happened.

Lance was still sound asleep so Keith decided to wake him up.

“Hey,” he sighed lightly, but was met with small snores.

“Hey!” a little louder, still nothing.

“Lance wake up!” That made Lance move a bit.

“Five more minutes mom,” Lance exhaled.

“I’m not your mom.” Lance’s eyes shot open at that and he nearly fell of the bed as he jumped away from Keith.

“Oh woah, sorry I-uh I thought um… I was hugging a pillow.” Lance shut his mouth and looked at Keith in dismay.

“What are you doing in my bed?” Keith asked.

“You were having nightmares and I thought it would help,” Lance started explaining with a lot of hand motions that didn’t make any sense

“So you decided to stay?” Keith raised an eyebrow.

Lance was falling apart under Keith’s gaze “I tried to comfort you and then go to my bed but you wouldn’t calm down until I laid down with you.” Lance was sweating as if he was running under the 2 pm sun in the middle of the summer.

Keith gave him a warm smile and giggled, “thank you.”

“Look sorry I didn’t mean to…”

“Lance!” Keith stopped the blabbering fool before he went on a mile-long rant about how sorry he was. “It’s ok, that was really thoughtful of you.”

Lance shook his head to clear it but was interrupted by the door opening before he could comment.

Fiona walked into the room and froze at the scene before her. Her son was in bed with the boy who came to protect the colony. Lance was sweating as if he was running on the sun itself, his face looked like a Nuca-Cola cap and mouth was hanging wide open.

“Mom, this might look like…”

“Oh my god, Lance, why didn’t you say you two had a thing, we would’ve put a bed for two in your room yesterday,” she said completely normally.

The boys were caught off guard by Fiona’s statement.

“Mom, no...”

“We don’t have a thing.”

Both said at once and then glanced at each other.

“Oh you boys don’t need to hide that from me, there’s a lot of boys who are like you and it’s ok.” She approached Lance’s bed and put some fresh laundry on the bed.

“You’re ok with this?” asked Keith.

“Doesn’t matter because we don’t have a thing,” injected Lance.

“Why are you in the boy’s bed then, dear son?” She gave Lance a challenging smile and raised her eyebrow.

“I… He was having nightmares so I comforted him”

“In his bed, under the same sheets?” She was smiling more and more as the situation got quite entertaining for her.

“Mom! I was just helping him out!” Lance was getting frustrated with every sentence his mom uttered.

“I’m sure you did.” She winked at Keith and let out a light chuckle as she spun around and headed for the door.

“MOM!” Lance nearly screamed after her and Keith bursted out laughing, Fiona’s laugh could also be heard as she walked out the room.

“Lance calm down, she’s only messing with you. She knows I have nightmares.” Keith put a hand on Lance’s shoulder to calm him down.

“Damn her,” Lance pouted.

After Lance finished cursing over his mother, Keith reminded him they were still in his bed. Lance moved out of it as soon as he pointed it out, stuttered something about a shower and left the room.

Keith had the day off so he decided to waste time in bed for a bit before he went around the Colony. He wanted to meet up with Shiro, Matt and Hunk, then maybe help out Fiona with anything but he would probably be an obstacle for her, rather than a helper, especially in the kitchen. The boy was talented with a knife, but when it came to cutting veggies… Well let’s just say a cucumber can make him cry.

When he decided that he rested enough, he got up, got dressed in the fresh clothes Fiona brought him and went outside.

The day went by like a breeze, he talked to Matt, helped Hunk move some stuff to his workroom and stayed as he showed him the turrets he’s working on. He helped Fiona and Kate with lunch and at the end of the day he spent time with Shiro.

They were sitting on the edge of the cliff when the sun was just a few minutes away from setting behind the trees. The moon was rising from the sea and the glow bottles all around the place were starting to show their colours.

“Were you ok tonight?” Shiro was playing with a few pebbles and throwing them into the ocean below.

“Yeah it was great, my back hasn’t felt this good in a long time.” Keith was leaning back on his arms and rocking his legs over the cliff.

“What was that screaming though?”

“What screaming?” questioned Keith. “I slept like a log!”

“Not at night, this morning. Sounded like Lance was being attacked by a radroach.”

“Oh. Well his mom walked in when he was in my bed.”

Shiro stopped at that and slowly moved his gaze to Keith with a smile.

“It’s not like that, he said he heard me having a rough dream and he calmed me down by getting in my bed… ok that sounds bad, but nothing happened Shiro.”

“Yet.”

“Knock it off.” Keith bumped Shiro’s shoulder and he giggled.

Shiro ruffed up Keith’s hair while smiling at him with affection.

“How was your day?” Keith asked.

“I was with Allura and Coran, we went through the schedule so we could be added in. You’ve got your first scavenge tomorrow.”

“Really, that fast? I thought we’d start with watch duty.”

“Arthur and Lance we’re on the agenda but Arthur strained his knee so I suggested you.”

“I’m sure you did.” Keith couldn’t say that more sarcastically.

“Oh come on, you guys get along just fine.”

“Yeah we do, I mean he can be a pain sometimes but pushing us to do stuff together makes me feel I’m making an artificial friendship.”

“In a way it has to be. We’re guests here, we need to play it by their rules even if that means putting on a smile and being friendly when we don’t feel like it.”

“But this place is different, I feel at home, and even if I disagree with anyone they take it like constructive criticism, ok maybe not Lance but you get me.”

“Yeah I know, maybe we won’t have to play here at all.”

A comfortable silence fell between them as they stared out into the distance. The moon rose and stars replaced the warm red and orange shades on the sky.

After a few minutes they heard light footsteps and turned in the direction of the noise only to see Lance walking on his fingers hunched down like he was ready to pounce.

“Damnit, I’ll never be able to scare you two, am I,” Lance sighed in defeat.

“Dork,” snickered Keith.

“Nope, sorry to let you down but living in the Wasteland has its perks. We can hear anything far before it gets close,” Shiro smiled up at him.

“Well at least as long as you’re here no one’s going to get the jump on us.”

“How was your watch today?” Keith patted the ground next to him inviting Lance to sit next to them.

“Uneventful, dull, exhausting, excruciatingly monotonous. Just think of any adjective that expresses boredom and you have todays watch, thanks for not coming by, by the way.” He moved closer and tugged on Keith’s jacket. “And get up we’re going to bed before the grown-ups today.”

“What? It’s not even completely dark.”

“We’ll be heading off early so let’s go. Good night Shiro, don’t let the bed bugs bite!” Lance exclaimed excitedly and left. “Good night Lance.”

“Well I guess I gotta go.” He hugged Shiro tightly, “good night.”

“Sleep tight.”

 

-

 

Lance was waiting in his bed for Keith to come back so they could go to sleep when his door opened. But it wasn’t Keith who stepped in, it was Anna.

“Anna what are you doing here, aren’t you supposed to be with Nan?” he worried.

“She fell asleep and I asked mom if she could watch over her,” she waved him off.

“Still have to tell me what you’re doing here.”

“Can’t a sister come say good night to her brother?” she said with an innocent face.

“Cut the crap, what do you want?” he snickered at her awful acting.

“So you know in three days we’re all going to have two days off, I was thinking we could make another Card Night.” She sat down next to him.

“All of us? Do you think Pidge and Verona are going to come back by then? Did you think about Keith too?”

“They’re going to be back by tomorrow evening, and don’t worry I checked twice so your Keith can be with us.” She squished his cheek like a grandmother does.

He slapped her hand away. “My Keith?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Well you two are getting on quite well, aren’t you? Mom told me she found you in his bed today.”

“Oh god how many times do I have to tell you people? He was having nightmares and I just wanted to help.”

“Help him or yourself?” She rested on her arm with a grin that perfectly expressed her satisfaction with Lance’s embarrassment.

“N-no I didn’t do it for myself, what the quiznak Anna?! Where are you going with this?” Lance is positively mortified with her words.

“I have no idea what you mean,” Anna was barely concealing her laughter, “I’m only saying you guys really like each other, considering you know one another only, what is it, four days now?”

“Anna you better stop or I’m not bringing you any alcohol for Card Night!” he said through gritted teeth and that stopped Anna almost instantaneously.

“Ok, ok, chill out,” she said disappointedly. “Just get the stuff, because it’s not just for me but all of us, I don’t think one lone vodka is going to suffice.” She stood up and started towards the door.

“I’ll see what I’ll find but if it looks suspicious I’m not taking it back.”

“Taking what back?” Keith asked as he walked in the room with only a fresh towel around his waist and another around his neck.

“Alcohol,” Anna answered.

“Why would you need alcohol? Do you need it for your potions?”

“No we’re going to have a Card Night, and we drink it while we play.” She smiled at him. “But lance here apparently doesn’t wan… Lance?”

Lance shook his head before Keith could even see him gawking. “Huh, what, yeah, I’m ok.”

Keith looked between a confused Lance and Anna who had a giant smirk on her face.

“Well sure looks like something’s bothering you.” She stressed the last bit making a suggestion that went over Keith’s head but made Lance blush furiously.

“Anna we need to rest for tomorrow so can you please leave, I’ll explain everything to Keith, just go,” he said quickly and agitatedly. That made Anna smirk, say goodnight and leave, leaving a flustered Lance and a confused and half naked Keith in the room.

“So what’s this Card Night?” Keith turned his attention to Lance.

Lance was still calming down so his words came out a little bit rushed and stressed. “When all of us have days off we get together and play cards, and drinking games with cards. The ones that feel lucky even gamble but nothing major.”

“Oh sounds fun, am I invited too or is this more of a tradition you have?” Keith moved to his bed where his clothes were spread out.   

“Of course you are, everyone already likes you, they will be happy having … there…” Lance gasped as he saw how Keith purposely let his towel fall down revealing a light and strong stature. He hips were small but his butt cheeks were still full. His legs were toned just in the right way, not too much just slightly more than Lance’s long lean ones. If Keith hadn’t had fresh underwear on, Lance’s soul would have probably left his body a long time ago. But the fact that he was wearing HIS underwear made his mind stop working.

“Well I’m looking forward to this Card Night!” Keith said as he quickly scrambled for his clothes to cover up and unknowingly put Lance out of this awkward position.

“U-uh, well um,” Lance wanted to make a witty remark about his card skills, “get ready to get your ass licked… KICKED. Get ready to get your ass kicked, because I’m you know, the best.” Well his plan failed miserably.

While he tried to recover from that awful brain fart, or should we call it wishful thinking, Keith got dressed and in bed. He laid there just staring at the celling and that caught Lance’s attention.

“You ok there?” the shame in his voice was replaced by worry.

“Yeah just, thinking about my nightmares. I really hope they don’t come back today because the last two nights were the best in a long while.” He started fumbling with the edge of the cover.

“Do you want me to put our beds together, maybe it’ll help if you’re closer to someone?”

Keith thought about it but decided against it. His poor heart wouldn’t be able to handle Lance’s embrace again after the heart attack he almost had this morning.

“Maybe I should try sleeping on my own and if that doesn’t work we can try your idea.” He looked at Lance and gave him a barely visible smile.

“Ok, sleep tight,” Lance said as he laid down and got in his usual foetus position.

“Good night.” Keith closed his eyes and turned away, willing himself to sleep.

 

-

 

“And don’t forget the stimpacks. Did you pack all the rations? Should you take another cloak, maybe it’ll rain. Do you have enough ammo? Hunk should probably go with you for extra protection.” Fiona was nervously pacing behind her son, asking him about the scavenge and if he’s ready.

“Mom calm down. I have all the important equipment and snacks in my bag and we can’t take Hunk with us because the group has to be as small as it can be, plus there won’t be enough protection in the Colony if we all leave.” Lance turned around and gave his mother a big tight hug. “Don’t worry you know I’m discreet and Keith is beyond capable.”

Fiona calmed down at that and hugged back. “Speaking of Keith, where is that boy?” She looked around. “Is he still in bed?”

“I think he said something about going to Shiro before we leave, oh look there he is.” Lance pointed to their house as Keith exited through the front door.

He wore a long black cloak similar to the one Lance had on, a dark red sweater beneath, tight dark grey almost black pants and leather fingerless gloves.

“I still don’t know what kind of function those serve.” Lance points at the gloves as Keith joins them.

“I have a better grip on my bat with them on.” Keith lifts his bat.

Lance only nods and moves towards the gate, “let’s go, before the sun goes up and we get spotted by every low life raider.” He waved Keith to follow him.

He said goodbye to Fiona and followed Lance into the Wasteland to start his first ever scavenge.

They waved a goodbye to Coran as well as he was guarding the outpost at the gate. He looked tired from the long nightshift. Dark circles under his eyes, messed up hair and a slouched figure defined him at this hour of the morning.

The two boys started walking to a factory Lance found two weeks ago and wanted to investigate it. They were looking for stashes of caps, food that was still edible, useful equipment, just about anything that would help them out in the Colony.

They were walking for about fifteen minutes when Lance noticed a group of molerats in front of them.

“Ok so I really don’t want to waste my bullets on those suckers, so would you be a dear and go bash their heads in with The Bringer of Justice.” He said as he leaned on a dead tree like he was trying to show off or look cool.

“It’s just a bat, stop calling it that,” Keith exhaled annoyed at Keith’s silly name for the bat.

“Yeah, yeah, you and John just get it over with,” Lance grinned proudly and pointed Keith to the damned little irradiated rodents that resembled a brain with four legs and teeth.

Keith only turned his eyes and left. He took long and silent steps to the group, hiding behind every tree, just so he could get the upper hand on them and finish them off before they could crawl into the ground and attack him from underneath his feet.

He was merely a few feet away from them when the first one spotted him and hissed. That was Keith’s cue to attack. Like a strong gust of wind, he flew through the group killing every single one of them before they could do anything and stopped at the last one where he decided to clean the blood of his bat.

“Wow, where did you get so fast? Plus, I barely heard a thing,” Lance walked up behind him.

“Well I always liked to fight up close and personal, and I had to get really good at it if I wanted to do it. And we had a lot of jobs where I had to steal something, so I picked up a few trick along the way.” Keith rested the bat on his shoulder and walked off with a smirk plastered on his face.

No need to highlight the fact that Keith impressed Lance, and more than once on their scavenge. Before they even got to the factory they got tricked by a raider presenting himself as a trader. He thought he could get easy money by luring people to his caravan then killing them for their inventory. Little did he know that Keith can draw his dagger a lot faster than he can react to.

But when they got to the factory it was Lance’s time to shine yet again. A behemoth was standing in front of the facility. A giant, horribly disfigured from the systematic mutation it endured while it was still a human. Yes, those towering beasts were human once.

“Stay here, we’re not getting close to that thing until its heartbeat is terminated.” Lance was assembling his rifle and putting some modifications on it, he quickly screwed some parts to the long rifle and removed the silencer.

“Ok so I needed to do this so the bullet will be strong enough to pierce deep enough to kill the thing, also it’s going to be really loud so I suggest you cover your ears.” Keith obeyed and covered his ears as Lance lifted the rifle to his chest. He set his head so he could see through the scope and fired.

The shot was so loud Keith could feel the immense power behind the bullet. He saw the giant fall in front of the factory and felt the faint vibrations in the ground to their location.

Lance just packed up his gun and started towards the factory, as if he didn’t just kill a giant from an unbelievable distance with a gun that probably has the fire power of a tank. “That’s pidge’s modification, she really likes to tinker around.”

Now it was Keith’s turn to be impressed. No way in hell would he be able to make that shot or take the force of that gun. He was awoken from his thoughts by Lance’s holler.

They entered the factory and looked around for anything interesting. Keith found a toolbox and some medicine, and Lance found a bottle of whiskey and bourbon, Keith also found some bottle filled with spirits he didn’t recognize, next to them was a small fridge with preserved food so he took as much as he could. They also found a few caps here and there and a bit of ammo.

After Lance got scared of a skeleton that fell on him when he opened up a locker, they decided to leave and head home. They got a lot of good stuff, and Lance was really excited to try out the beans he found. “As soon as I get home I’m going to cook something with them.”

“Have you ever even tried them?”

“Yeah, Pidge got them once from a trader who found a cannery. And I loved them then, can’t wait to get them in my mouth,” he was practically drooling at the thought.

“Hope you enjoy them as much as you are excited about them,” Keith smiled at the enthusiastic boy.

They walked to the Colony in peace. No attacks or unexpected monsters. When they got back they were greeted by faces Keith did not recognize.

“Pidge!” Lance screamed out and dropped the bag he was carrying at Keith’s feet. He ran up to a small girl that looked exactly like Janette Holt.

“Oh look who’s still alive.” She opened up her arms so Lance could pick her up in a big tight hug.

“Welcome back my little devil, how was your trip?” He put her down and started walking to a tall woman with short dark brown hair.

“It was the worst. Some dude was frozen before the Great War and somehow he came back. So the people thought he was wise enough, with his pre-war knowledge, to take over the settlements and caravans in Boston. He didn’t let us trade anywhere because we didn’t have any passes.” The girl that Keith now recognized as Janette’s daughter and Matt’s sister was clenching her fists as hard as she could. She looked so pissed that if someone looked at her the wrong way she’d blast a hole in their head.

“That no-good shit eater had the gull to call me too short to call the shots.” Her face was beginning to redden and you could practically see the steam evaporate from her.

Lance made a dramatic gasp, clearly faking it, and covered his mouth with his hand, for dramatic effect as well as to hide his smile. “I hope you showed him he’s wrong.”

“Damn right I did, I bitchslapped that two-hundred-year-old popsicle and showed him who’s boss.” She crossed her arms proudly.

“You just proved that he’s the boss because he threw us out of the compound into the dirt outside of Boston,” the tall woman said with one hand resting on her hip.

“It was still worth seeing a grown man on the edge of tears because a kid slapped him,” Pidge pointed out.

“True,” said the robust woman. She looked up at Keith and raised her eyebrow. “Who are you?”

“I’m Keith, I’m here to help protect the Colony.”

“Really? Well nice to meet you, I’m Verona, Hunk’s older sister, I’m sure you’ve already met him, he’s hard to miss. And that little ball of sass is Pidge.”

“Hey I’m not sassy!” Pidge ran up to Verona and punched her in the gut but the strong woman only laughed it off. “That tickles.”

“Where’s my dad?” Lance injected as he picked up the bag he abandoned at the sight of the two girls.

“He went to Allura with Sam,” Verona answered.

“Ah, thanks.” He gave Verona the bag that was filled with booze “Can you hold on to these for a few days, we’re gonna have a Card Night in a three days.”

“Sweet!” She grinned and took the bag, slinging it over her shoulder and walking off to her house.

“Keith, follow me, we’re going to give the supplies to Coran so he’ll take care of it.” Lance walked off to the Holt residence, where Allura and Coran also lived.

They walked in to the study where two men were talking to Coran, Allura and Shiro. They stopped immediately as the two boys walked in. “Dad!” Lance cheered and ran up to him and hugged him. “Nice to see you again, Lance.” His father hugged back and smiled gloomily over his shoulder, his voice was also gloomy.

That made Lance break away from the hug and study his father’s features. “Dad, what’s wrong?” He looked around the room and everyone had the same bleak expression on their face.

“Lance,” Allura started, “your father believes we may be in danger.”

His father held Lance’s shoulder. “The road to the Colony was littered with dead bodies, when I and Sam took a closer look we saw that there were Galra slave marks on them.” Lance’s eyes widened and he made one step back to Keith. “We’ll have to gear up, help Hunk get the turrets up and maybe make a dual watch schedule.”

“Yeah, should we bar the gate too?” Lance was now looking down at the floor.

“Yes, we’re shutting it this evening,” answered Shiro.

Lance dropped his bag and took the one from Keith. “Here’s the scavenge from today, we’re going to go and rest.” He turned sharply after dropping the other bag as well, grabbed Keith’s sleeve and pulled him to the door, but his father grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.

“Lance! Don’t worry, it’ll be fine, we’re better prepared this time.” Lance dropped his gaze again. “Yeah, hope so.” And with that he left the room with Keith.

Soon Lance let go of Keith’s sleeve and started walking faster across the yard. “Lance, what’s wrong? You don’t have to worry, your dad said it himself.” Keith was catching up with him and asking with concern.

“I know, I know. I just… need to get to my room.” He said and tried to pick up the pace but was slowed down when Keith clutched his shoulder.

“Ok, just calm down. Let’s go to our room and you’ll relax and tell me what’s bothering you, ok?” Keith assured softly. Lance seemed to relax and slow down “Ok,” he almost whispered.

They got in the house and climbed all the flights of stairs to get to their room. They walked in silence. When they got in, Lance threw himself on his bed and laid there like a heap of blankets, while Keith sat on his bed and stared at the lanky boy in front of him.

He didn’t want to push him because clearly Lance wasn’t feeling it. So they sat/laid there in silence for a few minutes. Then Lance stirred and positioned himself so he laid in bed comfortably with his head on the pillow and his gaze fixed on Keith.

“This isn’t the first time… It isn’t the second or the third. It happens a lot, but every time it reminds me of that one attack.” Keith leaned in to listen carefully. “It was just a normal afternoon, my brother started his first watch and everyone was excited about it. Anna was still about nine or ten years old and I was twelve. We were playing by the swings and watching how Pap’s taught Arthur all about the watch and how to hold the gun.”

“Pap’s?” Keith questioned cautiously.

“My grandfather, I was so excited because two years after that day I would have had the same lesson from him… but I didn’t.” His face sulked. “Nan was just getting out of the house with little Amillia, she was a few months old and both Nan and Pap’s loved her with all their hearts. Nan was clean for about 13 years then, she stopped taking chems a year after Arthur was born. She wanted to bring Amillia to Pap’s because only he could calm her down in only like three seconds.” He chuckled lightly. “The man had a gift with kids.” His voice was becoming higher and quitter as he went on, and that worried Keith.

“Are you ok, you don’t need to…”

“No, no I’m ok, thanks.” He smiled back. “So, she was walking up to the tower when the first shot hit. It missed Pap’s and Arthur by just a few strands of hair. They got off the tower as fast as they could and the others came out of the houses to see what happened. As soon as the second shot was heard, panic took over. Everyone was scattering for their guns, mom and Janette were dragging us to the Holt's houses before going off for their own guns and to the wall.” He let you a heavy sigh.

“We were closed in the Holt household and we could hear everything, how our people were screaming at each other as they were barely defending the wall, the bullets, some grenades and even bigger explosions. Then we heard my mom scream out to Pap’s. A few more shots and screams later everything quieted down. For about half an hour we heard commotion outside the house, but we didn’t move because we were all so scared. Then Janette and Sam came in to get me, Arthur, Anna and Amillia and lead us to our house, they were covered in dirt and blood, both grazed and shot themselves as well.”

Keith was dreading where this story was headed and he didn’t think Lance was going to be able to cope with it. Lance only sniffed a bit.

“When we were walking to our house we saw that the gate was blown open, and Hunk’s parents were covering the Galra bodies with some kind of cloth. There were bullet holes everywhere, Allura was nursing Coran’s wound and Verona was helping my wounded uncle to the house. The closer we got the clearer we could hear the crying. As we walked in we saw my mom and my aunt crying and hugging each other in the living room. And then we saw it. First it was Nan lying on the kitchen table with so much cloth around her and blood everywhere. She had been shot and was still holding on. But next to her on the floor was another body covered with a white sheet that had a red stain on the middle.” Lance’s eyes were beginning to tear up.

“My dad only led us to our room so we wouldn’t see too much of what was happening, in our room he told us what happened, and that Pap’s got shot, and that they did everything they could but it was too late. Nan was shot but he told us she was going to pull through.”

Keith stood up and went to Lance’s bed, sitting down and putting a hand on his and squeezing it tightly. “She got back into drugs because she was heavily medicated for a few weeks after she got shot, also after Pap’s was gone she got weaker and couldn't resist them.”

He sniffed again. “I miss him so much.”

Keith’s heart broke as he heard the sincerity and hurt in Lance’s words. “I’m so sorry to hear that, must have been really hard for you back then?”

“Yeah it was but we bounced back, except for Nan. She tries really hard but it’s very difficult for her. I guess I get so worried every time because I know something like that could happen again, that's why I was so weird back then, when we met up with everyone." He looked up to his rifle and then at Keith. "By the way my sniper rifle is named after him.” Lance gave him a weak smile.

“After your grandfather?”

“Yeah, his name was Ellis and he always referred to his guns as girls, so I named that beauty Elizabeth.” He points to the gun leaning on the wall.

“That’s really sweet.”

“Yeah, well I suggest we stop the mopping.” He sat up straight and put a smile on as if nothing happened, then looked at Keith so their faces were inches apart. “Wanna play some board games?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another thing. I finaly got the hang of these notes so i'm going to try and leave them as much as possible. Also I would like to remind you that I really appreciate all the feedback, so comments are really welcome!


	5. Random info

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are a lot of characters in this fic so I decided to make a list of them, where they live, and how old they are. Hope this is going to help you all while you read my fic! Maybe even some random info !

** The characters: **

 

**The McClain household (the largest house, painted light blue):**

 

Lance McClain (19) Job: Works on the watch, goes on scavenges, recruits mercenaries, does chores.

Anna McClain (17) Job: Herbalist, botanist, chemic, cook, sometimes works on the watch. Relation: Lance's younger sister.

Fiona McClain (43) Job: Cook, takes care of the kids, sometimes works on the watch. Relation: Lance's mother.

Allan Thomson (45) Job: Escorts the caravans, works on the watch, goes on scavenges, sometimes recruits mercenaries, member of the Colony's council. Relation: Lance's father.

Arthur McClain (22) Job: Works on the watch, helps with heavy lifting, helps around the house. Relation: Lance's older brother.

Theodor McClain (6) Job: Well he's six so nothing, cleans the dishes? Relation: Lance's youngest brother.

Amillia McClain (9) Job: Same, maybe cleans a bit more. Relation: Lance's younger sister.

Leo McClain (7) Job: -//- (same). Relation: Lance's cousin.

Carla McClain (40) Job: Works on the watch, helps around the house, gardens. Relation: Lance's aunt, Fiona's sister.

Finch Wolf (41) Job: Mechanic, repair man, works on the watch, helps Hunk with the turrets, cook. Relation: Carla's husband.

Vera McClain (63) Job: ... ;) Relation: Lance's grandmother (Nan), Fiona's and Carla's mother.

 

**The Holt household (the slightly smaller house, painted light green):**

 

Katie Holt/Pidge Gunderson (16) Job: Merchant, caravan master, banters with other merchants, makes grown men cry, inventor. 

Matt Holt (21) Job: Takes care of the Colony's aesthetic, made the lights that light up the Colony at night, makes different gadgets. Relation: Pidge's older brother.

Samuel Holt (48) Job: Caravan boss, makes deals with traders, takes care of the merchandise, member of the Colony's council. Relation: Pidge's father.

Janette Holt (45) Job: Doctor, pharmacist, healer, veterinarian, surgeon. Relation: Pidge's mother.

Allura (26) Job: Leader of the colony, helps out everywhere she can, being beautiful.

Coran (39) Job: Deputy, advisor, also helps out wherever he can, is great with kids.

 

The **Garett household (the smallest house, painted light yellow):**

 

Hunk Garett (19) Job: Mechanic, inventor, in charge of turrets, cook, repair man, best hugs.

Verona Garett (24) Job: Escorts the caravans, works on the wall, does heavy lifting, repairs the wall. Relation: Hunk's sister.

Kate Garett (44) Job: Repairs stuff, builds things, cook, works on the watch, on the Colony's council. Relation: Hunk's mother.

Anthony Garett (42) Job: Works on the wall, does heavy lifting, cook. Relation: Hunk's dad.

 

**The Voltron duo:**

Keith Kogane (19) Job: Mercenary, now works for the Colony, good assassin and thief.

Takashi Shirogane (Shiro) (24) Job: Mercenary, now works for the Colony, good with skirmishes and fights against more opponents.

 

**Pets/animals:**

Tom (Dog)

Jerry (Dog)

Lassie (Dog)

Runo (Brahmin) (those are the two-headed cows)

Tyson (Brahmin)

Blisk (Brahmin)

 

**Random:**

 

Lance owns a .44 pistol named Maria, a western revolver named Rose and a powerful modified sniper rifle named Elizabeth. Best sharpshooter around. Kills any foe before they even get a chance to react or reach him.

Keith owns a mysterious dagger, an old-school baseball bat (John/The Bringer Of Justice) and a standard .44 pistol. Is exceptionally good in close-range combat and is deadly in the dark of night because of his great stealth ability.

Shiro owns a big assault rifle and a smaller one with a dagger attached to the front. He is best in mid-range combat, mows down his opponents with his rifles or stabs and bashes them into the ground.

Hunk owns a giant modified minigun, nothing more to add.

Others have pretty standard weapons.

Everyone except the youngest three owns a gun, for protection.

They all eat in the same place, so it feels like they are all just a big family.

The Galra are a group of fanatic raiders lead by a cruel leader who is advised by a "Witch of Atom"

The Colony is a pretty big place actually.

They have radios around the whole place and enjoy listening to the old vintage songs, it lifts their spirits.

Nan is addicted to these chemical and irradiated drugs called "Chems" for short, they pollute her mind so much that she can see into the past future and other places in the present.

Her name (Vera) means faith and she points it out a lot, so she calms down her family and assures them that she will pull through.

Blisk means Flash or lightning, that's because that particular brahmin is really fast.

Lance is a big fan of the Andrews sister and would totally go to see them live if they were still alive in 2277.

Lance and his mom have this small act every morning when they meet in the kitchen. Lance is like, "good morning, sister Flower," and she replies with "welcome, brother Hower" and then they both bow dramatically. They found a scrip of this play and really liked this part so they decided to make it their thing. No one gets them though.

Anna has to make beauty creams for Lance.

Soap is practically extinct, that's why Keith was so surprised by the soap Lance had with him at The Garrison.

The east side of the Colony is not closed off by the wall because it is next to a steep cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

 

That's about it, if I come up with more random facts I'll make another chapter like this :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love fallout and if you haven't played it I strongly recomend you do !


	6. Card Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is the night... Card night. In the eerie night the youth of the Colony decided to have a little fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School is still kicking my ass so a late update is finally here. Hope you guys are doing good in school as well. Or at your job. Just hope you're enjoying yourselves!

Two days passed and it was the day the kids would gather for Card Night. Keith was still processing all the things he learned about Lance in the past few days.

Lance went through a lot, but he was still going strong. He was really loud and boisterous, passionate about the Colony and especially everyone in it, good with kids and animals alike. The concept of personal space was unknown to him (Keith experienced that first-hand). He was a talented sharpshooter and marksman in general with an interesting sense of humour. On top of that, he was willing to help Keith out even though they barely knew each other.

Keith was experiencing new feelings thinking about it all, feelings he didn’t know how to explain. Was he happy or sad? Did he like Lance or did he hate his guts? He couldn’t hate Lance though, he was just a ball of love and happiness, who would hate him?

So, if it wasn’t hate what was it? Keith did like him but he didn’t like-like him? Did he?

Well, Lance was very nice… and funny… and pretty… was he smart though? Keith couldn’t think of anything that would define his intellect, then again he couldn’t remember anything that would condemn him as stupid either. His actions in the Waste could be a sign of his healthy thinking mind.

He sure was interesting for Keith. The way he acted, moved, talked, the way he expressed everything about himself, the way his hair fell on his face, the way he rubbed his hands together and bit his lip when he was thinking or when he was concerned, and the way his muscles flexed when…

“Woohoo! Anyone in there?”

Keith shook his head and his vision cleared to see Matt’s hand waving in front of his face.

“Who’s the lucky sucker that makes you smile like that, huh?” Matt smirked at Keith as his face turned in to a strawberry.

“You really need to ask?”  Pidge said apathetically, hanging upside-down from her bed. She was just sharpening a stick with her handy knife and throwing the cut off wood at her brother.

“No but still, I love messing with him, look how red he gets.”

“What?! What do you mean? I wasn’t thinking about anyone!” Keith was getting really concerned about what the Holt siblings where aiming at.

“Oh so we’ll play that game?” Pidge sat on her bed, upright. “What was making you smile so much then?”

Keith was now regretting accepting Matt’s invitation to their house before Card Night. He and Pidge got a hold on a few beers and they invited Keith to get warmed up for the event, he did not expect the meeting to take this turn. It was his fault though, why was he even thinking about Lance and his smile… and his voice… and maybe his hair…

“There he goes again…” Pidge rolled her eyes at Keith and decided to throw the empty beer bottle from the nightstand next to her at him.

“Ow, what the…?!”

“Watch your mouth, there’s a minor present,” she smiled at him smugly.

“This minor is drinking alcohol, I think I can curse,” Keith groaned as he caressed the spot where the bottle and his face made contact.

“Bad manners, Keith. You disappoint me.” She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

“Back to the matter at hand,” Matt intervened by waving his hands between the sassy girl and the angry daydreamer, “you owe Pidge an answer.”

Keith squinted with his eyes and directed his gaze to Pidge. “I wasn’t thinking about anything or anyone, I wasn’t even smiling.”

“Sure you were,” snorted Pidge.

“Is it someone special? Do we know him?” Matt wiggled his eyebrows.

“No, it was nothing, come on guys leave it,” Keith pleaded. Matt’s smile fell and he looked at Pidge who wore a similar expression.

Pidge took a deep breath and started. “You know you can trust us, I mean we already assume it’s Lance, you just have to confirm it.”

Keith was looking at the beer bottle in his hand, drawing weird shapes on the misty surface with his finger. “Yes, I was thinking about Lance, but I swear it wasn’t anything serious.”

“Sure.”

“Pidge shut up. Look it’s ok, we won’t tell anyone,” Matt assured Keith.

“Except for Anna,” Pidge added.

“What! Why her, she’s his sister, you can’t tell her!” Keith stood up, not even sure what to do, but he knew she couldn’t find out, or else Lance would find out and he would think Keith is a weirdo, well not a weirdo because he’s ok with Keith being gay but, he doesn’t know how Lance would feel with knowing that Keith is gay for him though.  _Wait, did I just admit I’m gay for him? No… Nah that’s the alcohol speaking. Yep those three sips of beer got me thinking crazy. *insert nervous internal laughter*_

“Chill out, calm down. She’s the one that noticed the first.” Pidge was waving her hand at Keith in a motion that told him to sit back down and relax.

“She what?”

“She noticed that you liked to cheek Lance out now and then, plus the time you and Lance slept in your bed sparked the thought of your liking him in all our minds.” Matt tugged at Keith’s sleeve to pull him back on the bed in the hopes of getting him to calm down a bit.

“All of your minds? Who else knows, I mean, assumes?” Keith was finally sitting again but Matt’s hope of him being calm was still far away.

“Anna, me, Matt and Hunk.”

“So Lance’s three best friends and his sister, great.” He threw both his arms in the air with distress. “Well at least Arthur and his mom are in the dark, his dad still probably doesn’t know me yet. Yesterday he left a bucket full of ammunition in front of our room with a letter saying  _For Keef_ ”

“Damn right it’s great, we’re going to help you make a move on him tonight.” Pidge smiled mischievously. “Plus his mom probably knows too. That woman somehow finds out everything”

Keith opened his mouth and pointed a finger at Pidge, but no sound came out. A scowl on his face and whole body trembling slightly from the anger. Or was it fear. Or just annoyance. After a few seconds, only a small yelp was heard from Keith, the kind a dog makes when it can’t reach something it wants, and his hands fell to his side as well has his head bowed down in defeat.

Matt patted his back firmly and smiled like an idiot. “You can thank us later. Lance only needs to get a certain amount of whiskey in him and he becomes the flirtiest being ever.”

Keith could only hide his face in his palms. “This night is going to be the worst.”

 

-

 

After they finished up their beers, they decided to go to the McClain household’s basement, where the infamous Card Night is taking place. On their way to the house they picked up Hunk, who was finishing up the diagnostics test for the cameras they have around the Colony.

There was this weird fog out, it reminded Keith of the ones in the creepy parts of Shiro’s comics. It was so thick and mostly stuck to the ground so they could see the sky somewhat along with the lights from the houses and the light bottles. The whole situation was even eerier with the presence of the full moon illuminating the treetops of the forest around the Colony. It all sent shivers down Keith’s back, so needless to say he was grateful when he entered the house.

When they entered the basement, they were met with a cloud of smoke and the smell of fine spirits. Everyone was already present. Verona and Arthur were smoking San Francisco Sunlight cigars while playing a round of tarock with Lance and Anna, at the small table in the centre.

There were two couches next to the wall opposite the entrance and another one under the stairwell. Behind the card player quartet was the bar and in front was a giant pool table. There were also a couple of mattresses and some blankets atop in a dark corner, probably just in case for the ones that would have too much to drink.

After Keith was done sightseeing the basement he decided to descend down the stairs to where the party would take place. As soon as Lance saw him he stood from the table and despite opposition from Arthur and Anna, left the game in order to give Keith yet another tour.

“Welcome to the Den, hope ya like cards, alcohol and long nights, because we got all of that right here.” He spread his arms in a grand gesture and gave the most welcoming smile ever. Without warning he took hold of Keith’s hand and dragged him to the bar.

“What’s your poison?” Lance said smoothly like a true high standard bartender, while moving behind the counter.

“I don’t know, I usually don’t drink. What do you have?” Keith shifted awkwardly while looking at all the bottles (not a lot of them to be honest) and fiddling with his fingers. His legs were swaying in the air because the seat was so tall.

“Well, we have vodka, whiskey, bourbon, red wine, white rum and beer, possibly more but I can’t remember.”

“Hmmm… Maybe white rum.”

“Straight?”

“No, I’m…”

“Gay.”

Keith fell silent with a baffled expression pointed towards Lance. “What?”

“Well, am I lying?” Lance was barely holding a straight face with his perfect bartender act.

“Yeah I-I guess not. Anyway, I’m not sure I want to start off so strong. Maybe a cocktail with white rum?”

Lance gasped with excitement “I can make you my favourite one, I just hope I have all the ingredients in the fridge.” He raced off to open up the fridge and whoop out with happiness “Ok, ok, ok, ok, go sit down somewhere and I’ll bring you your drink in a minute.” He pointed out to the others already seated at the pool table and started whipping out glasses and some weird containers.

Keith followed his advice and moved to the pool table where the others were mingling, there were exactly eight chairs for them around the table and two decks of cards.

“He’s really going out of his way for him,” Keith overheard Anna whispering to Matt, who shushed her when he noticed Keith was listening.

“Keith are you good with cards?” Matt decided to start a conversation with him.

“Not really, didn’t have a lot of time out in the Wasteland to learn. What games are we going to play anyway?”

“We’ll start with poker, then we move on to bridge and the grand finale is either the pyramid or The Game.”

“Never heard of the last two.”

“They’re easy to learn, as long as you won’t get wasted during poker and bridge, you won’t have any problems.” Verona gave him a wide smile before putting the cigar back in her mouth and then puffing a giant cloud of smoke up towards the celling light. “Ever smoked?”

“No.”

“Wanna try?” She pointed the cigar at him.

“Not sure.” Keith crossed his arms defensively over his stomach and lowering his gaze.

“Don’t worry one puff won’t kill you or get you addicted, but if you really don’t want to…”

“Ok let me try,” Keith disrupted Verona’s sentence and extended a hand. She was surprised by his willingness and made the “not bad” face as she handed the cigar to Keith.

Keith examined the rolled-up tobacco at first, then put it in his mouth and sucked. The smoke came out of his mouth and he grimaced at the taste. “Not really good, plus I though this hits you hard the first time you try.”

“That’s because you didn’t inhale.” She entwined her fingers together and rested her elbows on the table as she stared down the table at Keith.

He wasn’t sure he wanted to do that. He examined the tobacco stick in his hand once more. Why not, Verona and Arthur were still alive and well, let’s give it a try.

Keith put the cigar between his lips and inhaled tentatively this time.

“KEITH!” Lance yelled at the top of his lungs which caused Keith to choke on the smoke stuck between his lungs and mouth.

“What the hell, you guys, stop spreading bad habits on others!” Lance was marching to the table angrily with a glass in his hand. When he arrived at Keith’s side, he put the glass in front of him and tore the cigar from his hand and threw it in the ashtray, “and you, why did you do that?”

“Calm down Lance, as if you didn’t do the same when we first got the cigars.” Arthur puffed a cloud of smoke in Lance’s face just to provoke him, causing him to fan the smoke away with his hands.

“Yeah, Keith was just testing the waters,” Verona smiled as she picked up the discarded cigar from the ashtray and starts smoking again.

“Don’t worry Lance, I’m not going to do it again anyway, it’s kind of disgusting.” Keith picked up the glass Lance brought and took a sip to wash down the awful taste. Then his eyes opened wide as he tasted the sweet and citrus taste of the alcoholic beverage. “Wow!”

“I know, right? This is the best, of course when it was made with my talented hands,” Lance pointed to himself and smiled smugly while leaning on one of the chairs.

“Yeah, it’s really good. What is it?” Keith took another sip.

“They call it Cuba Libre,” he said proudly and expressed the “R” like a true Latino.

“Nice, you’ll make me more, right?”

“Will do!” Lance sat next to Keith and took the deck of cards in his hands. “Let’s start with poker.”

He started shuffling them in his hands and with everyone seated and with their drinks, Card Night officially began.

The first round went to Lance and that officially boosted his ego through the roof five floors above them, only to get knocked back down every other round by the others. Everyone was winning rounds equally, with the exception of Lance, because everyone was playing against him after his first win, and Keith, who was so awkward and clueless during every round it was almost painful looking at his shrinking bundle of chips.

The first one to go was Lance followed up by Keith, who didn’t even notice he was out until he saw he didn’t have any more chips when he wanted to raise in the next round. They both finished their drinks so they decided to make more.

Keith wasn’t really tipsy but after a really long time without alcohol in the Waste, even this cocktail was making him fell a bit warm in the cheeks. Lance made him another Cuba Libre. “Wonder what I should have, do you see anything interesting?”

As Keith was glancing over the few bottles of rum, wine, herbal spirits and some beers his eyes landed on a big bottle of whiskey named Love’s Arrows. That’s when he remembered Matt’s words about Lance and whiskey.

“That one.” Keith pointed at the big bottle and took another sip _. Let’s see what whiskey does to you_ , he thought to himself.

Lance nodded and took the bottle down. He poured some of the content in a glass and mixed it with some ice-cold Nuka-Cola. He took a swig and turned the bottle to look at the name.

A smile appeared on his face and he looked at Keith from under his bangs. “Nice choice.”

“Thanks. Can I taste it?” Keith smiled innocently and leaned in.

“Sure can, but you’ve got to watch out, don’t mix alcohol too much, so just a small sip.” Lance lifted the glass up to Keith’s mouth. Keith didn’t even attempt to hold the glass he just leaned his lips on the edge of the glass and Lance tilted it automatically.

The sweet alcoholic liquid felt nice and after he pulled away he wanted more, not sure if it was because it was good or because it was Lance’s. Right after that Lance took another sip, looked down at the bar where he left the glass and smiled. “Can’t believe we just shared an indirect kiss.”

That set Keith’s face ablaze. “W-What?”

“You know like, my lips were on that glass and you drank from it. Indirect kiss, nothing special,” he giggled and strode off to one of the couches behind the pool table where everyone was still playing animatedly.

Keith was left standing there with his thoughts.  _He’s right, it’s nothing, just some lame concept some love-struck teenager came up with to have an excuse to say he/she shared some kind of kiss with his or her crush. But why are you reacting like this. It’s not like you guys really kissed. And even if you did you don’t like Lance like that. Or…_

“Oi Keith, you’re gonna stand there or come here?” Lance patted the free space next to him on the couch and crossed his legs.

“Uh, yeah sure.” He picked up his glass and walked to the couch. He sat down and made himself comfortable, the alcohol must have been hitting him a little bit more now, because he left his guard down and he felt himself getting a lot more relaxed even though his mind was still on high alert because of what Lance said.

They watched the others gamble, bluff and drink by the pool table, Lance put his drink down and stretched his arms above his head before relaxing them on the top of the couch, his left arm going behind Keith’s head. The felling wasn’t bad, it wasn’t like his stomach hurt or anything, it just made this weird feeling when he felt Lance’s arm behind his head.

“So I was thinking, since it’s your first time playing here we should just get to The Game started as soon as possible.” Lance stretched for his glass again and took a sip.

“I’m up for it, but how do you play?” Keith also took a sip and looked to Lance as he rested his head on Lance’s arm.

“We decide what each card means and then you pull them out of the deck. For example, if I drew out a ten that would mean I need to answer a question about anything or do a dare, and every number and sign has another meaning.”

Keith contemplated. “Sounds fun.”

“Yeah it is, everyone is probably going to finish up poker so…”

A small alarm started blaring on the mainframe and Hunk stood up and ran up to it.

“What’s going on?” Pidge was at his side in a matter of seconds.

“The motion detectors went off, but I can’t see anything on the cams.”

“Maybe they’re not working like they should, but just to be sure. Verona, Arthur, you’re quite sober, right?”

“Yes,” Verona nodded.

“As much as I can be after three drinks,” Arthur grinned.  _Looks like the grin is a McClain thing_ _,_ Keith thought to himself.

“Right, can you please just go around the perimeter to make sure no one is…”

A Loud crash interrupted Pidge mid-sentence. The loud bang caused everyone to jump up and reach for their weapons if they had anything with them. Everyone was facing the door that was now opened. Nothing but the radio could be heard. Everyone’s breath was hitched as they had no idea what was going on.

_Uranium fever has done and got me down!_

_Uranium fever is spreadin’ all around!_

_Whit a Geiger counter in my hand,_

_(I’ma going out to stake me some government land)_

_Uranium fever has done and got me down!_

“Everyone stay where you are,” Arthur whispered through gritted teeth as he moved to a position from where he could have a clear view of the door frame and see if anyone is there. No one.

“No one’s here.” He glanced at Verona, “come on, let’s make a quick sweep of the place.”

“On it!” Verona checked her weapon and moved after Arthur up the stairs.

“Be quick!” Lance yelled after them.

Keith was still on high alert, scanning the door as if Arthur missed something. He was so preoccupied by the door that he got scared when his glass made a weird sound, as if a block of ice got a little excited in that Cuba Libre and started banging up against the glass.

“Calm down, Keith. C’mon let’s get The Game ready, doubt they’re going to continue after messing up all the chips when they sprung up.” Lance waved him over as he was starting to pick up the chips.

The ones left in the basement cleaned up and prepared the pool table for the next game that got started as soon as Arthur and Verona arrived. Keith was the one to begin, as he was the honoured guest of the evening and he drew three of hearts. The meant he was the eye master. No one is allowed to look the eye master in the eyes, if the person is caught, they must drink (Throughout the game Lance was caught so many times it was embarrassing).

The next one was Lance and he got the four of spades, which meant he had to drink three shots or make three sips of his drink. He did his job and the game moved on.

Everyone was having fun, Lance drew the most cards that made him drink so after a few minutes he was well over tipsy, Pidge got a lot of dares, and Matt somehow got Waterfall three times in a row, so everyone started drinking at once, Matt was the first one that was allowed to stop and then the neighbour to his left. Everyone had to drink until the neighbour to their right stopped. Since Verona sat on the wrong side next to Matt she was always the one drinking the most. She got really drunk but she wasn’t the only one. Lance got so drunk he started singing to the radio.

“This is even better than I thought,” Matt leaned to Anna, who was giggling and grinning like crazy with a wild blush on her face. She was most definitely drunk off her ass.

“I know right, he’s never done that before.” She started singing along with Lance, at a lower volume of course, to his favourite song Baby It’s Just You by Magnolia. Keith was also blushing because he was sitting next to the drunken vocalist, who was singing right in his ear, while holding him in place with an arm draped around his shoulder. After the song ended Lance calmed down and The Game resumed right after.

Everyone had to answer some questions at least once. Lance spoke so animatedly about his loved life when asked, it made Anna an Arthur want to throw up. “Lance, stop. Me and Anna really don’t want to hear that!” Keith was just sitting there next to Lance, red as a lobster. Lance’s love stories and adventures really got him riled up. That’s when Matt passed by and whispered in Keith’s ear, “you know he’s telling the truth, he always works hard to satisfy the one’s he loves.”

Needless to say, Keith needed a few minutes to recover from all the information.

After half an hour of playing various drinking games tied to the deck of cards, Keith stared feeling really sick.

His vision was getting blurred, his stomach mas killing him and his head was spinning. It was getting worse by the second. He started leaning against Lance’s shoulder and barely uttering “Lance, I don’t feel so good.”

“The first of the night!” Lance giggled and stood up, pulling Keith up with him “C’mon let’s get ya to the toilet, otherwise you’re gonna have a lot of cleaning to do tomorrow.” They started walking to the stairs, ignoring the dog whistles and hoots of the drunken card-players from the table.

“No, I don’t need to puke, I just… I feel really bad, I see… I see…” Keith looked up at the stairs and at the very top stood a tall figure. “W-what’s he… that thing…” Keith pointed up towards the top of the stairs with a weak gesture and slightly moved back.

The figure moved, moving its giant legs down the stairs, one slow step after another. “He found… how did he… STAY AWAY!” He screamed at the eerie mass slowly descending down the stairs.

“Keith, what the actual fuck, there’s no one there, stop with the…”

“NO, we gotta go… before.” Keith somehow wriggled out of Lance’s grip and stumbled back, landing on his ass.  He was searching for something on his belt as the beast was getting close, no one else seeing it but him apparently. All the others present were quietly watching the black-haired teenager with concern.

 _Is this a dream? Why else would he be here? Why am I the only one that can see him?_ Keith looked around the room and felt like everyone else was fading out, the warm walls were turning steel cold all around him, his vision was darkening everywhere except where the creepy monster was.

His giant head, disgustingly bulging green muscles with blue veins popping out, taller than any man and eyes red like blood. He was merely meters away from him when he spoke.

“Finally got you too.” Then smirked with his disgusting cut lips and rotten teeth.

At that moment Keith found his knife, gripped it tightly and stood up clumsily. When he was standing, he took a deep breath and charged at the monster, screaming at the top of his lungs. As he charged he tripped over his own feet and landed face first on the cold ground, knocking himself out effectively.

 

-

 

As he opened his eyes he saw white, with a source of light at the edge of his vision.  _Where am I?_

He squinted his eyes to try and see better and scrunched his face, only to yelp at the pain spreading across his face as he moved his muscles. That attracted Lance’s attention. “Keith?” Keith looked up at Lance tiredly and tried to smile but he felt so sleepy and exhausted that it somehow didn’t work.

Lance turned around and shouted. “He woke up!” Then he faced Keith again and his features softened. “Hey, stay calm, you’re still probably high from the sedatives.” A small giggle escaped from between his lips and he gripped Keith’s shoulder.

“W-what happened? Why do I feel like shit?” Keith asked weakly and hoarsely.

“Well you tripped and knocked yourself out so we took you to Janette to see if anything’s broken, but then the Geiger counter went crazy.”

“I was radioactive?”

“Yes, and so was your glass. You were poisoned with some kind of radioactive isotope,” Janette appeared from behind Lance and took some injections out of Keith’s hand, “someone slipped something in your drink when we were infiltrated.”

“Infiltrated?!” Keith sat up quickly, but he fell back down fast because of the dizziness.

“The motion detectors Hunk installed weren’t wrong after all. They detected something we just couldn’t see. The person who set them up was probably using a stealth boy or something,” Lance explained.

“So someone was in the basement with us? And that person put something in my drink, so that was the weird sound my glass made, remember?”

“Yeah, kind of creepy to think someone was with us, huh?” Lance put his hand on Keith’s torso and slightly pushed down, forcing him to lie down completely. “You should seriously rest, you’ve been through a lot.”

“And when you’ll feel better we’ll have a talk about what you were yelling about before you fell,” Janette added while she was putting new injections in Keith’s arm, “but for now you should do as Lance said, we’ll leave you in peace now.”

Lance stood up. “See you soon, mullet boy.” He saluted with two fingers like a soldier and followed Janette out the door, closing it after he left the room.

“I’m not mullet boy,” he said lowly, mostly to himself, before closing his eyes and falling asleep in the empty clinic room.

 

-

 

Keith felt like shit the next day. Even though Janette successfully flushed out all of the radiation from his system, he still wanted to sleep all day and do nothing. Lance stayed with him in their room the whole day trying to cheer him up. They talked about how much fun they had before the incident. How Lance sang, how Hunk apologized for everything, even if it wasn’t his fault, how red Anna’s face got after a few too many drinks. They were quoting Matt’s brain fart statements like “isn’t it weird how we get drunker, when we drink more?” or “when people used to go to space, were they really in space?” The last statement started an argument between him and Pidge on the topic of whether anyone had really been in space or not.

Throughout their conversation Keith was barely keeping his eyes open, but he was determined to listen to Lance, because the next day they probably wouldn’t see each other. Lance had watch duty and Keith will probably be at the clinic the whole day.

“Hey, wanna lie down for a bit?” Lance stood up and sat down next to Keith.

“That would be really nice right now.” Keith leaned in to Lance’s touch and let him guide his head to his comforter. When he relaxed, and positioned himself in a foetus position, Lance covered him up with a blanket and just sat there for minute.

When Keith noticed that he wondered “Are you just gonna sit there now?”

Lance shuffled a little before responding “I just thought I would keep you company, also see if everything is ok. You really scared me yesterday, with all the screaming and panicking, not to mention how you knocked yourself out cold, I just want to make sure you’re going to be ok.”

Keith listened with wide eyes and blushed, but tactically covered with the blanket.  _Since when is he so sweet. Does he even know what this is doing to me?_ “Thank you,” Keith smiled, “but are you sure you want to sit here for so long?” Even though Lance’s words woke him up, he was still drained and about to pass out at any given moment.

Lance looked away for a moment and stood up abruptly. Keith followed him with his gaze as he moved the drawer from in-between their beds to the far end of the room. Then he moved his bed next to Keith’s and plopped himself down on it. “There, a much more comfortable body guard position,” he smiled gleefully. Keith’s heart was overreacting by beating like every heartbeat was a nuke blast.

“Maybe a fairy-tale will help you doze off?” Lance repositioned himself so he was on his back and staring at the ceiling. “Ever heard of a Hans Christian Andersen?”

“No.”

“You’re going to love him,” Lance exclaimed enthusiastically and started telling a story.

Keith was enchanted by his positivity and devotion to the story he was telling. With every word, he calmed down more and more. Eyelids getting heavier. Body relaxed.

The last thing Keith saw was Lance’s face as he was eagerly telling a tale about a small girl selling matches. And then he dozed off into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe a monthly update will become a standard now, I just don't have too much time to write even though I really enjoy it.  
> I want to thank you all yet again, for the feedback, hits and now for the 100+ kudos. THANK YOU SO MUCH ! <3


	7. Christmas spirit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A long time passes since the incident at Card night and it already the heart of winter. Keith is recovering and Lance helps out as much as he can. The festive time sure helps with his healing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the time that I was gone this Fic got recomended a few times on Tumblr and I wanna thank every one of you that shared it and spread the word about it.  
> Thank you all for your hits, kudos, comments and bookmarks, it all means a lot to me!

The month after the incident during Card Night the whole Colony was on high alert. Double shifts were enrolled, Hunk and Pidge were going over all the camera footage, Hunk reinforced their defences and everyone started carrying their weapons with them. This would go on until Allura and Coran declared it was safe enough to stop with these extreme measures.

Keith had to go to Janette every day for a check-up, recovering slowly but surely. He was taken off the watch schedule so he could rest and recover as fast as he could. Janette entrusted Anna with making some medicine from the ingredients from her garden and the chems in Janette’s clinic. This helped Keith to relax and get better. Lance also tried to help by keeping Keith company, combing his hair, massaging him so he could loosen up, and telling him more stories.

In the time it took for Keith to fully recover they’ve spent a lot of time together. The only part of the day they weren’t together was either when Lance had watch duty or Keith had a check-up, and that was usually at the same time.

Since the isotope Keith consumed with his drink caused vile hallucinations and increased his nightmares, Lance decided to keep the beds together so Keith would feel safer and have less nightmares or at least less intense nightmares. It became a habit for them to stay close, mostly stick to their house, particularly the living room, where they made a small cushion lair made of, well, cushions and a few stools, next to the fireplace.

That was another way for Keith to calm down and it worked best when the rest of the McClain family and Shiro were also there. Even though he was only used to Shiro up until now, this family grew on him. He felt safe in their home and welcomed among them, but at the same time something was making him feel bad, something wasn’t letting him feel quite at home.

After he recovered he got back on the work schedule and started doing stuff around the Colony to help everyone out, but he still had to go to Janette once a week and he kept the routine with Lance. Weeks went by and Keith was beginning to feel like his old self again. The cool air of the winter month of December probably helped.

The home became festive and they were celebrating Keith and Shiro’s fourth months of stay at the Colony. Words like “you’re part of the family now!” and “hope you like it in your home!” were thrown around light-heartedly but meant genuinely. They actually thought of them as part of their little community, but Keith was still feeling like a stranger. He was still a mercenary. And the only reason he was here was because of the contract he and Shiro made with Lance four months ago. When it’ll expire, they’ll have to leave and that made Keith feel melancholic about his stay at the Colony.

“Hey Keith! Let’s go up on the roof to watch the sunset,” Lance interrupted Keith’s thoughts and proceeded to stand up. He held out a hand to him and smiled sweetly. Keith took the hand and stood up to go up to the roof. They climbed on it from the window of their room and sat on the very top so they would slide down the slope.

The view from up there was breath-taking and it left Keith speechless. The wide blue ocean to the east and the forest and plains to the west upon which the sun set. There were clouds dotting the sky just enough for the sun to be seen through and at an angle where the sun could illuminate them and because of that they looked like they were on fire. That made the atmosphere feel so warm and everything looked like you were watching it through an orange and light red filter.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Lance moved closer to Keith so he could drape a small blanket around their shoulders so the December cool won’t chase them inside the house just yet. He looked at Keith and saw him staring around like a baffled child, seeing a sunset for the first time in his life.

“I’ve never payed too much attention to sunsets, I was always preoccupied with something else,” he admitted and looked at Lance with his wide and surprised eyes. “Are they always like that?”

Lance snorted even though he felt bad about what Keith said. Never in his life did he have a careless second to just look up at the sky and admire it, even though it was mostly ruined by the radiation storms and pollution. But in this moment Keith didn’t have a care in the world and the sky wasn’t clouded by anything except beautifully lit natural clouds. And Lance was happy for him.

“No, not every day. Most of the year sunsets aren’t so orange and red-ish, they are mostly yellow or a light shade of orange. But in winter time like now our planet is at a certain place in space where sunlight falls to this part of the planet in a different angle. Because of this angle it has to go through more of the atmosphere and that’s how colours of light fall off.” Lance trails off, not paying attention to Keith’s surprised expression.

“You know light is made out of a spectrum of colours like the rainbow. Well, when it passes through air parts of that spectrum fall off, the last being the colours orange and red. That’s why winter sunsets are always so beautiful, and that’s why I wanted you to see it today.” Lance looks back at Keith and smiled with so much compassion it made Keith even more speechless, aside from being flattered because Lance specifically wanted him to see the most beautiful sunset ever.

“H-how… Ok first of all, thank you. And second. How the fuck do you know that?”

Lance chuckled at Keith’s response. “When I was little this place didn’t have fairy tales like we do now, like the one about the girl selling matches I told you when you were recovering. We found them like maybe two to three years ago. The only things we had were science books and encyclopaedias, so that’s what my mom and dad read to me at night when I couldn’t sleep.” He giggled again. “Sounds weird I know but it was the best we could do, I actually started liking them. Especially the ones about space and weather.”

“That actually sounds amazing.” Keith was genuinely impressed and he also thought it was cute. “Can you tell me anything else?” He hugged his legs and inched closer, waiting for Lance to tell him something else. While Lance was distracted with thinking, Keith leaned in his head as if he was asking for permission to lean it onto something. Lance noticed that and moved his shoulder closer to Keith, who took the bait and rested his head on it. Satisfied, Keith closed his eyes and waited for Lance, who could only smile at his action, to continue.

Lance hummed. “What do you want me to tell you?”

Keith wiggled his shoulders. “I don’t know. Something you like.”

Lance raised an eyebrow and thought about things he liked. “I like rain. Did you know that there are a lot of different types of it and a lot of cool cloud names in some really weird language?”

Keith could only watch as the fool in front of him started getting excited with each word he uttered. He admired his enthusiasm and how cute he looked when he talked about something he was passionate about.

“Oh! I love space! When the sun sets, I’m going to show you all the constellations, and maybe we’ll see a shooting star!” he almost screamed and Keith started chackling because he was beginning to look ridiculously cute like that.

They stayed up on the roof until the sky went dark and when it got dotted with stars Lance started telling Keith about constellations and how they tie in with zodiacs. He pointed towards the stars and drew out the signs for Keith and told him their names, why they were called that way and what they represented. Keith listened to his voice and relaxed under the starry sky. When a shooting star passed by both of them yelped out in excitement and Lance demanded that Keith wishes for something. He did, and as it goes with wishes, he didn’t tell what he wished for.

They lost track of time until momma Fiona started to yell up at them, telling them to get of the roof and go to bed because it was well past midnight and they needed their rest. Lance groaned and yelled out a reply assuring his mother that they are coming down.

They got down from the roof, got cleaned up and crashed in their beds. After a few more minutes of casual conversation Lance dozed off. He had a double shift today and he helped with the turret maintenance so he was really tired. Keith on the other hand watched his face and thought about what had just happened.

This boy is a surprise after another one, he is so sweet and caring, not to mention smart because of his intellectual bed time stories. His face kept him captivated for a few more minutes before he too got weary. He moved closer to Lance and nuzzled his head closer to his chest. That’s how he felt safer and where he fell asleep with a smile on his lips.

Long after they soundly fell asleep, Lance’s mom checked up on them to make sure they were sleeping.

-

 

When she opened the door, she was greeted with a scene that made her smile fondly.

Keith was cuddled up to Lance, gripping his shirt tightly and leaning on his chest with his head. This position looked as if he was holding on to Lance tightly, not wanting to lose him.

Lance was sleeping peacefully with an arm behind Keith’s back, pulling him closer in a protective manner. It remined her of how Lance would lovingly hug her sister when she had nightmares or if she felt bad.

After Fiona saw that they were more than ok, she decided to leave the room, not wanting to bother them. She closed the door and with a smile happily walked off to her own bedroom.

-

 

Christmas was here and that meant that Matt went haywire with decorations, Fiona started baking like crazy while Janette and Carla helped her as much as they could. Hunk and his mom started cooking traditional Christmas diners every day for a week between Christmas and New Year, Pidge and her dad managed to get some tapes with Christmas songs on them from various caravans, Anna decided to make some cinnamon and apple scented lotions, candles and soaps for everyone. Allura and Coran decided to bless everyone with their singing of traditional Christmas carols, Matt decided to leave the Christmas tree decorating up to Keith and Lance, while the others (Shiro, Lance’s dad, brother, uncle and Hunk’s dad and sister) decide to go out scavenging in shifts to find scraps and other tings to make gifts for everyone. Verona spotted a toy factory far away from their usual routs of scavenge and they decided to clear it out and loot it for toys for the youngest.

Like a Christmas miracle, Lance’s Nan Vera got a lot better, so much that she was able to come to the living room and socialize with everyone. She decided to help with the festive spirit so she told stories to the youngest three, but somehow Lance ended up being there with them, sitting on the floor like his younger siblings and cousin, listening with a child’s curiosity. Of course, Keith ended up with him because he either got dragged in with Lance or he just couldn’t resist being near him.

Keith retreated out to the cliff to rest and escape to his thoughts every time he had the chance. The festive spirit, although it was refreshing, was also exhausting. Constant screaming and running around the house, tons of food to eat and then not having a place to lay down your fat ass because presents and decorations were everywhere, Lance’s dad was always going around and giving everyone eggnog, no doubt he had some himself because he was unusually chatty.

He was sitting on the edge as usually, swinging his legs in the air with his arms crossed tightly close to his body to keep warm as much as he could. The cloudy sky and the gentle wind made his skin shiver below his clothes. He watched the wave’s crash in the walls of the cliff below him. Everything was so peaceful right now. Not even the distant sound of everyone else in the McClain household could disturb the gentle calm that has subsided around Keith.

He thought about the life before he and Shiro met Lance in The Garrison bar, what luxury it is living here now compared to the dumpster beds and sewer homes he and Shiro had to live in. The dangers they had to face every day and how much they had to kill. Oh, the blood and gore are never going to leave Keith’s memories. But they had to do everything they did to survive, he calmed himself down and he kept telling himself they lived by a moral code outside in the Wasteland and that justified their doing.  But what if it didn’t? What if they did heinous acts of violence just like the raiders? But they had to survive… After all, if it wasn’t for those monsters they wouldn’t even become mercenaries.

Keith took a deep breath and leaned his head back, pushed his chest out, opening up his airways so he could he could suck in as much air as he could.

Those monsters…

He exhaled slowly, soothing his thoughts.

“Better not go there,” he whispered to himself.

But his mind couldn’t help it. Sometimes Keith thought about the possibility of his mind being a bit masochistic.

Images with cold steel walls showed up in his thoughts, covered with blood and gun shots. Corpses lying on the ground, familiar faces, Keith knew these people. Then small feet appeared, limping slowly down the ice-cold floor.

_“Mommy?”_

The weak voice of the child echoed through the halls and nothing responded. But then the sound of bare feet running echoed from behind the small child. From around the corner a panicked teenage boy appeared and looked at the crying kid in front of him. He ran his hands through his pitch-black hair and started running towards the kid, his mouth opening up, ready to scream.

“Keith?”

“Oh thank god,” Keith sighed with relief.

“What’s wrong?” Shiro approached carefully.

“Nothing just... thinking.” Keith looked up at him. “Sit down with me.” He tapped the edge to his left.

“I can see you were thinking about that day.” He moved to the place Keith wanted and sat down.

“That obvious?” Keith frowned.

Shiro smiled and moved his hand up to wipe away the single tear under Keith’s left eye. “You usually don’t cry when you think about the weather.”

“Shit!” Keith rubbed his eye, “I didn’t even notice.”

“It’s ok. Don’t worry about it.” Shiro put his arm around Keith’s shoulder and allowed him to rest his head on it.

They stayed like that for a few silent and calm moments, moving closer to get more warmth from each other, still shivering from the gentle breeze. It was getting darker with every passing moment but neither wanted to move away. This was what they rarely had time to do. Just sit and enjoy each other’s company in peace. Feeling safer like that. When Keith was younger he said that they were refilling their batteries with power so they would be able to face the future. Shiro remembered that and it brought a smile to his face. But it didn’t last long.

“Will it ever get better?” Keith question cut through the fragile silence.

Shiro felt bad for telling him that it will be for the last nine years, but what was he supposed to do.

“Yes…” He winched and stayed quiet for a long moment, “but you have to understand it will never leave you.”

That made Keith’s grip tighten around Shiro’s hand, and that almost broke his heart. He knew Keith was strong, he could take anything and walk it off, and sometimes Shiro legitimately thought Keith was a cat with 9 lives. But this... This scarred him, caused the nightmares and the panic attacks he used to have. This showed just how fragile Keith really was.

Shiro hugged him closer and kissed the top of his head.

“Don’t worry, I told you the second we got this contract, lady luck finally smiled our way.” He really meant it. This place was good for both of them. Shiro could finally calm down for more than just a few seconds and neither of them had to sleep with one eye open, and it especially worked wonders for Keith.

“Don’t jinx it please.” Keith smiled up at him.

Shiro snorted and ruffed up his hair. Keith tried to stop him but he already ruined the tie Lance made for him earlier that day.

“Stop it, god. You’re acting like some really old guy talking to a preteen.” He smiled and straightened up, he tried to pull his hair back the way it was but to no avail.

“Aw don’t worry, I’m sure Lance would _love_  to help you out with that.” Shiro intentionally stressed the part of the sentence where love was located.

Keith picked up on that intonation and looked at him sceptically.

“Don’t start again.”

“Start what?” Lance would be proud of the shit-eating grin Shiro just mustered up.

Keith decided to not push it forward, but Shiro wouldn’t let it.

“Ok, ok I admit, I wanna start again, but just because I wanna see how you feel about him now.”

“Why do you wanna know?”

Shiro leaned back fake shocked. Then he put a hand on his chest and leaned back into Keith’s personal space.

“I only want to know because I care about you, can’t you see how much I love you,” Shiro acted out dramatically but there was truth in his words.

Keith smiled again and covered his face with one hand because of the embarrassing acting Shiro was portraying.

“Alright, what do you wanna know?”

Shiro’s face lit up and he put both his hand on either side of his face in excitement.

“Yeees!” He then threw his fist in the air. “Ok so, after leaving me in the dark for the past four months, please tell me you like him.”

Keith moved his gaze to the ocean, leaving it there while Shiro stared at him, waiting for an answer, but not getting any.

“ _Sooo?_ ” Shiro asked again.

Keith couldn’t take it any longer, a smile escaped and Shiro whooped with joy.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Because it’s kinda stupid, he’s straight and I… Well that’s it.”

“If he’s straight then I’m a llama, and you aren’t going to see me spit any time soon.”

Keith only stared at him.

“What?”

“Oh, come on don’t tell me you’ve been so blind all this time. He’s totally into you too! Just think of how he acts around you.”

“He’s just really compassionate.”

“Sure,” he deadpanned.

Keith’s eyes widened. “You really think he likes me?”

“I’m 103% sure.”

Keith sat there silent, thinking about many times Lance could have done things that would show his affection.

“If you don’t believe me just ask Anna, she’s been trying to get Lance to slip up since we arrived.”

That made Keith’s cheeks flare up.

Shiro smiled and hugged him one more time. “Don’t worry, he really likes you, and it’s better to tell him, you’ll see.”

Keith hugged back. “You know it’s not that easy.”

They parted and Shiro only ruffed up his hair more, making Keith almost growl back at him.

“It’s going to be ok.” Shiro had this energy that made everything ok, like, it could make your skin clear just by standing close to him when he’s happy. That’s what made Keith smile.

They stayed like that for a few more minutes, talking about anything and everything. Shiro talked about the meetings he had to attend, which were as boring as they could be, but fortunately he really got along with everyone so it wasn’t a torture, especially because he got really close with a certain leader of the Colony. Now it was Keith’s turn to tease. Of course, Shiro denied everything said, but with a smile which was more than enough conformation for Keith. They also talked about the past four months here, how they’ve been getting used to this, almost too much. They both liked it a lot, loved it. One of the dogs licked Keith’s hand and that brought them out of their conversation. The now colder air became too much to ignore.

“Wanna go back in? It’s gotten pretty dark and it’s only going to get colder.”

“Yeah,” Keith nodded, “let’s go.”

 

-

 

“Where have you been you almost missed the first dinner,” Fiona said as she carried many plates in her arms to the dining room.

“We just needed a few moments to cool off,” Shiro assured, “we wouldn’t miss the big dinner for anything in the world.”

Fiona looked at them worriedly. “Cool off? Is everything ok?”

“Yeah we just needed to talk for a bit,” Keith added as he took off his shoes and stepped into the warm house. “Do you need help with anything?”

“Yes, can you be a dear and get the rest of the cutlery from that wardrobe and bring it to the dining room,” she said out of breath as she left the room.

Shiro and Keith just looked at each other and moved to the wardrobe. They got the cutlery and brought it to the dining room where they helped everyone put it in its place. Matt was already there and he helped Anna with the decorations of the room. Lance was standing next to the kitchen door and drooling.

“Come on Hunk, just one plate in advance please.” He looked like he was about to cry, especially when Hunk said no.

“You’re going to eat with the rest of us, now stop staring, unless you like torturing yourself.” Hunk stepped to the door to close it.

“I love you man, but that’s rude,” Lance winched and moved his gave from the closed door only for it to land on Keith. His face instantly lit up with a smile and he started walking towards him.

“Finally, I wondered where you disappeared to, come on let’s go upstairs for a bit, away from this chaos,” he said as he walked by Keith.

Keith didn’t need to be told twice, he turned around and followed Lance up the stairs.

They ended up in their room and Lance took his shirt off. That took Keith by surprise.

“W-what are you doing?” His voice shook.

“I’m getting dressed for the dinner, you should too. Got anything fancy with you?” Lance turned around, showing Keith his bare upper body. It wasn’t the first time Keith saw him half naked, but it captivated him every time. It took every ounce of his willpower to not look down. He failed.

For a few fast seconds his eyes darted over his exposed chest, exploring the lines his muscles made, they quickly travelled down the curve from his wide shoulders down to his narrow hips. He noticed the few small scars that dotted Lance’s torso and the one big one on his shoulder.

Before Keith could retreat his gaze to Lance’s face and act like he didn’t just ogle his entire body, his face was covered with a glaring blush.

“Uh... W-what did you say?” Keith stammered and put on a nonchalant face. But he couldn’t cover up anymore.

A small barely visible smile appeared on Lance’s lips and a similar albeit smaller blush crept on his face. He cleared his throat and spoke again.

“I said, do you have any fancy clothes? If you don’t I can lend you something,” he said with that small smile still there. It wasn’t taunting or smug it was just from happiness.

“I don’t, do you have anything with my size?”

“I’m sure I do, we have a similar body type so it won’t be a problem.” He went through his drawer and wardrobe and pulled out a nice dark red suit. “This should fit you,” he said as he handed it over to Keith.

“Thank you.” Keith took it and turned away, he also took off his clothes to put on the fancy clothes. “I never though these kinds of clothes still existed.”

“Oh yeah they do. You can find them anywhere in the Wasteland. Since they were so expensive they were protected with all kinds of chemicals and containers. That’s why they look so new. Does the suit fit you?”

Keith put it on but it didn’t feel right. “Yeah but it feels weird.”

Lance turned around in his own suit and looked at the other boy. He snorted. Even looking at him while the other showed him his back, he could see that he put it on incorrectly.

“Here let me help.” He stepped behind Keith and reached his hands from either side of his waist.  Keith automatically drew his hands away from his body so they wouldn’t unexpectedly touch Lances again. He also sucked in a deep breath because he didn’t expect Lance to do that.

Lance rested his chin on Keith’s shoulder and watched down as his hands corrected Keith’s mistakes. He straightened the suit, buttoned the buttons that needed to be buttoned, corrected his collar and fixed his sleeves so a small portion of the white shirts sleeve popped out from under the dark red suit.

When he was done, he retracted his hands and turned Keith around. He whistled as he eyed him from top to bottom.

“You look smoking.” Keith could have sworn he saw a wink in there and as if all of that wasn’t enough Lance looked stunning in his own dark blue version of the same suit.

“You don’t look so bad yourself,” he said with faked confidence. “Why do we need to be dressed like this though?”

“My mom and Pidge’s dad insist on keeping the Christmas spirit alive like this. I don’t mind, I like being dressed in things that expose me for the beautiful and handsome beast I really am.” He flexed his arm and looked away as he was trying to impress someone.

Was this someone Keith? Was he flirting with him?

That thought bounced around Keith’s mind, teasing him. But holy god how he wanted it to be true.

“This suit really does work wonders for you.” Where the hell this that come from? Did Keith even notice what he said?

After that comment shut Lance up and made him furiously blush, Keith noticed what he had uttered. He clasped a hand over his mouth and moved to the bed.

“So… what do you wanna do to pass the time?” he asked awkwardly.

After Lance recollected his thoughts he looked at Keith, puzzled and then he quickly regained himself. Straightening up, clearing his throat and moving to his wardrobe.

“We can um…” He searched through the mess he had in his wardrobe. “AH, we can play a round or two of bridge to pass the time.” Keith nodded.

 

-

 

The score was two to one for Keith when Fiona called the boys down for dinner. Keith lost the first round but it was enough for him to get the hang of all the rules. And with the combination of fast learner and beginner’s luck he won the other two.

They walked down the stairs, Lance was hunched down because the last game he couldn’t even open up before Keith finished and Keith was rubbing it in his face.

“Aw, you two look like a couple,” wooed Anna. That shut Keith up and enraged Lance.

“What the hell Anna!?” She was already laughing and she was joined by Pidge and Matt.

“Well it’s true, you’re wearing matchings suits, gorgeous ones by the way, and you look like you’re arguing over nothing,” grinned Matt.

“Aaalsoo…” Pidge dragged out the word, leaned forward with her upper body and pointed up at the ceiling above Keith and Lance’s head.

“Oh no,” Lance whispered and put a hand over his face, “how did I not see it.”

Keith looked at Lance worriedly and dreaded looking up, what could cause him so much distress.

Keith decided to look up. He saw nothing particular. Just the pastel blue ceiling and some decorations, nothing special. So why was Lance freaking out like that?

“Wha…” Then Keith saw it. One of the many decorations wasn’t like the others. A small green branch with little green leaves and wee white beads wrapped with a red ribbon. “Oh.”

“Guys seriously?” Lance looked at them with a disappointed look when the three little rabble-rousers ran through the door from the dining room. “What’s going on!?” Amillia asked as she was holding a small cookie above Leo’s head and teasing him with it.

“Lance wants to break Christmas tradition,” Anna said with a horrified expression, cupping both her cheeks with her hands.

All three kids stopped and looked at Lance.

“Ok now…” Lance put his hands up in defence but the three kids were already all around him yelling and screaming.

“NOO Lance you can’t do that.”

“Don’t be a meanie.”

“Do it for meee, pleaseee!”

The three balls of energy were screaming so loud it attracted Shiro’s and Fiona’s attention. They came to the door and stayed there to watch everything unfold.

Lance gave Anna a death glare but she only responded with the McClain signature shit-eating grin.

“I’m not, I didn’t say I was breaking tradition.”

“Guess you’ll just have to kiss Keith,” Pidge injected.

Theo looked at Pidge and then up. His face lit up and he pointed towards the mistletoe with his small chubby fingers. “Misowtow!” The other two also noticed the plant and Amillia started chanting.

“Kiss Keith, kiss Keith, kiss Keith!” Leo joined in and so did Theo, Matt clutched his stomach as he almost tumbled over from laughing while Pidge and Anna joined in on the chant.

Shiro and Fiona were smiling like idiots from the door way and more people started to flood the room as the chanting got louder.

Keith was red as a tomato and Lance looked like he was ready to cry, under the pressure of the chanting and the gazes of everyone in the room, Lance grabbed Keith’s hand and pulled him closer.

“They aren’t going to stop, so let’s just do it,” he said as his hand moved to Keith’s cheek. “I’m not a bad kisser if it makes the situation any better.” He giggled lightly so close to Keith’s face his warm breath could be felt on Keith’s lips. That sent shivers down Keith’s spine. Everything, from the chanting to Lance’s hand holding his and the thought of kissing him made Keith’s heart beat so fast Lance could probably hear it.

“Ok,” Keith whispered and started leaning in. Lance took that as his cue so he closed his eyes and leaned in his other hand finding its way to Keith’s back. One of Keith’s hand rested on Lance’s hip the other leaned on his shoulder. Keith’s eyes closed as well and their lips met.

Explosions went off in Keith’s head. He was kissing Lance! Lance! His lips tasted sweet and felt so soft. The movements he made with them sparked electricity as they met with Keith’s.

Keith was in heaven and he didn’t want it to end. And neither did Lance apparently because his grip on Keith’s back tightened, pushing his body closer until they were flushed together. Lance moved his hand from Keith’s cheek to his hip and that caused Keith to feel really warm in his belly.

But then he remembered they hand company so he reluctantly decided to stop his movements and move away. As soon as he stopped and started moving away Lance also realised what was happening and he moved away _._

Then he felt like his ears opened up because there was cheering and clapping all around them. Keith’s thoughts were so intense he zooned out the world around him for those few mind-blowing seconds.

The three kids were clapping and screaming like crazy, Anna, Pidge and Matt were hysterical like some fangirls on the verge of fainting. At the door Shiro and Fiona were clapping with satisfied smiles on their faces, Hunk on the other hand was leaning forward with both his hands clasping his face making an “aaaaaawww” sound.

Keith was red as he could be. Looking around the room seeing almost everyone present. He couldn’t think straight (eh*wink*) and he didn’t know what to do.

He looked at Lance and he looked just as baffled as he was, but even more red than him, if that was even humanly possible.

Lance shook his head and looked back. “Ok now that that’s over, why don’t we go sit down at the table,” he suggested and lead the way.

That’s when Keith felt something pull at his arm and he noticed they were holding hand. When that happened, alluded him but he liked it very much. He started walking after Lance before he would decide to let him go.

They sat at the dining table, only then letting go of their hands and looking at each other. They both blushed and smiled warmly, then looked at everyone joining them at the table.

The feast begun, Hunk and his mom really outdone themselves, the food was delicious not to mention plentiful.

The dinner itself was chaos. Fiona was yelling out if anyone needed anything or was running low on gravy, Carla was scolding the kids because they were giving food to the dogs Allan let in, Coran was giving the kids thumbs up while sneaking some snack under the table himself, yelping and giggling after one of them almost ate his hand off with the treat. Anna, Pidge and Matt were engaged in a heated argument whether peas are the spawn of the devil or of a gift of God. Verona and Arthur were talking over the whole table about gun modifications. Sam and Janette were dissecting the food and trying to figure out the Latin names of each vegetables for some weird reason. Hunk’s mom and Lance’s Nan were talking sweetly about the kids and the dogs. Hunk was probably the only one completely devoted to eating the food, almost purring as he ate it.

Keith and Lance ate in peace in their quiet part of the table, glancing up at each other from time to time and grinning as they saw the other do the same. Strangely enough it there wasn’t any awkward tension between them as Keith expected after that kiss.

Ah, the kiss. It didn’t leave his mind the whole time. He glanced at Lance’s lip whishing he could do it again. Maybe they’ll have to do it again when they’ll go up to their room again.

“Keith?”

“Hmm?”

Lance gulped and positioned himself so he faced Keith.

“I hope that wasn’t awkward or too much for you, because I did it for our safety, otherwise my siblings would have torn us apart, I just don’t want this to cause some awkwardness to come between us, because I really like you and I really enjoy your company, so if it was too much, sorry I won’t do it again unless you’d like me too, oh god I’m babbling again. Anyway I just needed to get this off my chest and see if you’re ok.” A pause. “Are you?”

Keith was still processing everything he said. “You like me?”

Lance’s face was on fire.

“I-I um well…” he laughed nervously, “I do, yeah I do.”

The tension was rising between them, both of them were losing their shit on the inside but acted stoic on the outside.

The things that went through Keith’s head were unimaginable, he wasn’t even paying attention to what they meant let alone what he was doing in the real world outside his head because he returned to reality when he felt his lips on Lance’s yet again.

As soon as he noticed what he had done he moved back and plastered both his hands over his mouth looking at Lance with disbelief. Why did he do it? How did he not notice he was leaning in? Why did Lance let this happen?

Wait, Lance!

Keith looked at Lance. He looked like his brain broke. A giant blush spread across his cheeks and nose, his lips were parted and eyes wide open.

“I’m sorry! Sooo sorry, I don’t know what came over me!” Keith started panicking. “I-I just zooned out and suddenly this,” he pointed between them, “happened, I’m so soo…”

He was cut off by Lance grabbing his face and crashing their lips together. It hurt him a bit at the beginning because their teeth clattered awkwardly, but everything was washed away by the exciting feeling of feeling Lance’s lips on his again.

This kiss lasted longer than their first or second one, it started out rough but then it got smoother, gentle, caring. Keith’s hands found their way to Lance’s knees grabbing them tightly to steady himself as Lance caressed with his hands down Keith’s face and neck to rest on his shoulder.

This was amazing, Keith felt amazing. Lance liked him back AND he was kissing him back too. Nothing could ruin this moment.

“Is there more mistletoe here?” Amillia asked and everyone behind the table looked their way.

They stopped, opened their eyes and slowly moved away from each other, not far so that they were still able to lean into each other’s shoulders. They were smirking and blushing like crazy, Keith was slightly covering his mouth up with his curled fist and Lance was staring past everyone into the living room.

Everyone behind the table smiled and dismissed them because they all knew this was coming, sooner or later, except the young ones that were nagging them both about the kiss.

Besides the three little devils running around Keith and Lance, nothing special happened after that. Everyone ate up and cleaned after themselves. The youngest half of the Colony left the dining room for the living room where they put on some Christmas music. The youngest three were playing with dolls and other toys or playing and running around with the dogs, while the others gathered around the small coffee table to play cards and eat the dessert that Fiona gave to them before they left.

Keith and Lance nested in their coushin lair cuddling up to each other.

“Aw, are you gonna be lovey dovey from now on?” Anna commented on the cute couple in front of her.

“Yeah!” Lance said playfully and stuck out his tongue at his sister. Everyone laughed at that and Hunk started dealing the cards to everyone.

Lance nuzzled his face into Keith’s shoulder. That made him giggle out and lean into the touch. They stayed like that the whole game, secretly helping each other and hugging every time they got away with victory. They sipped on glasses of liquor. Some drank vodka, some whiskey and some brave souls tried tequila.

As Keith felt Lance cosy up to him from the side, he felt like it was all natural, like it was meant to be like this. No wonder, after four months of being close to each other this would be perfectly normal and not such a big leap, but every touch still made Keith’s heart flutter.

The way Lance leaned into him, the warmth from his body, the sound of his voice. Everything was so perfect to Keith and he was happy that he could finally hold his hand, hug him in a non-platonic way and even give a kiss. Even though he hasn’t yet exercised that right since they last kissed, he was sure he was going to take advantage of it as much as he could.

When it got really late, to the hours of early morning to be exact, they decided to leave and as they started climbing up the stairs the rest of the bunch hollered at them and reminded them of something.

Of course, how did he almost forget about that darn mistletoe. Well he shouldn’t curse it since it is mostly the reason he got to kiss Lance in the first place.

Both of them turned to each other. Lance took Keith’s hand into his and lightly pulled him closer. At first Keith was a bit shy about kissing him in front of everyone again, so he turned his gaze down, smiling like an idiot. Lance tried to bring his head up again so he leaned down and rested his forehead to Keith’s.

“Hey,” he started with a low and raspy voice he got after the long night, “you’re not gonna find my lips down there.”

Keith giggled and looked up at Lance’s grinning face. He engaged by closing his eyes and leaning forward, followed by Lance doing the same. They kissed for the fourth time that evening.

It didn’t last long but it was enough for both of them. Sweet, tender and loving.

“Found them anyway,” Keith purred and gave Lance’s nose a quick peck.

Lance could barely handle the way Keith was looking at him now so he hid his face in the crook of his neck and whimpered.

“Stop making me so embarrassed in front of everyone, Anna’s never going to stop teasing me now.”

“Damn right I won’t!” The people around the coffee table bursted out laughing.

Keith laughed too but was cut short by Lance giving him a light kiss on the sweet spot of his neck, making him gasp a little bit. Hidden behind Keith’s head just enough so nobody saw what he did.

Lance brought his head back in front of Keith’s face and glared playfully.

“Don’t laugh at me,” he winked.

Keith was torn, he didn’t know if he wanted to follow his demand or defy him on purpose because, damn he liked the felling of Lance’s lips on his neck.

“Ok, ok,” Keith giggled, “let’s go upstairs now, it’s getting really late.” He suggested with the nod of his head and Lance quickly agreed.  

After they said their goodbyes to the folk that stayed and continued to play cards, they went up to their room, got changed and into their bed. When their heads hit the pillows the real exhaustion behind their day hit them like a train.

Lance stretched out allowing just enough space for Keith to wriggle next to him. When he did that Lance bent himself into a fetus position levelling his face to Keith’s so he could stare into those gorgeous eyes.

“Today was a rollercoaster, huh?” Lance said with that same raspy voice from before, but it was much clearer without the ruckus that was present downstairs.

“Tell me about it, you think Anna had anything to do with that mistletoe?”

“Of course she did, probably Pidge and Matt’s idea but she was in on the plan, Hunk too probably. Heck even my mom is suspicious now. I knew they did it because this was the first year since mom and dad’s anniversary that we had mistletoe in the house.”

Keith laughed lightly at how Lance said that. “Well I’m honoured that such a special thing was repeated for us.”

“Yeah I guess we could look at it that way,” Lance said and smiled warmly.

A comfortable silence fell over them until Lance extended his arm and touched Keith’s cheek with his pointer and middle finger.

“I sure am glad they did it though, I don’t know if would have ever gotten the courage to do it myself.”

“Same with me, I wanted to tell you so bad but ever since that night we talk about my ‘gay way’,” Keith used the hand that was on the outside of the comforter to make the quote finger action, “as you called it.” Lance snorted loudly and Keith continued, “I thought you were straight. That’s why I stayed silent.”

Lance’s features softened, if he only showed his affection more and sooner maybe they would have been together sooner too.

“I’m sorry, but to my defence, at the time I thought I was straight, I never really liked any guys. Plus I didn’t actually had a big choice, the only men that live here in the Colony are either my family, too old or my best friend… or they have two heads.”

Keith puffed a gust of air out at the mention of the Brahmin outside.

“Until you came that is.” Keith’s heart will need a support pump if Lance planed on saying things like that with his deep voice.

“Well I’m glad this happened.” Keith moved his uncovered hand to Lance’s and intertwined their fingers.

Lance’s heart was close to exploding but there was one more thing. He said they were together, before in his thought’s. Were they?

“Hey Keith?”

Keith hummed in acknowledgement.

“Are we… Uh. Are we together now?”

Silence.

“Did either of us officially ask out the other?” Keith spoke.

“No.”

“Do we need to?”

“Not really.”

“Then I guess we are then,” Keith smiled and tightened his grip around his boyfriend’s hand.

Lance turned red and mirrored the action Keith did.

“So, we’re boyfriends.” Lance felt all jittery when he said that out loud.

Keith chuckled at his enthusiastic expression and childish excitement. “Yes, we are,” he confirmed with a silent voice full of emotion.

“I’m so happy!”

“Me too.” Keith leaned in and gave Lance a small eskimo kiss. Both of them snickered at that before they snuggled into each other and peacefully fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so this one took really long and I'm so sorry for prolonging the update, but the hollidays came and then I got sick and school is still kicking my ass and then Carrie Fisher died ;-; (fuck you 2016) so happy that's over now.  
> Anyway here it is. The new chapter. It's sligtly longer as an apology but idk if the lenght is noticable.  
> Hope you enjoy it, leave a kudos if you like it and I especialy love it when you guys give me feedback!  
> Love you all and have a good day!  
> (Btw I never really mentioned this but I'm dyslexic, so that's also why it takes so long for me to write the next chapter(well it actually the biggest reason why it takes so long). I write it slowly, really slowly, I gotta go through the text too many times to correct the mistakes and I also have the best friend ever because she went through my work before I published it to see if i made any mistakes to help me make it better. So yeah. I didn't show her the previous chapters though so if you see any grammatical mistakes, which I have no doubt there are plenty of, please forgive me and maybe even inform me of it so I can fix them, I would appreciate that very much!)


	8. Rainy days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is on a routine scavenge where he experienced a not so pleasant encounter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this is a Fallout fic I need to involve some of the not so pretty parts of this world. So this chapter is going to be a bit tough and WARNING there is blood, gore and mentions of abuse, so beware.  
> Also since s2 of Voltron butchered Lance's screen-time i decided to write this chapter from his point of view.  
> Hope you enjoy!

It was midday, yet it was dark and eerie. The grey sky was covered with thick clouds, eclipsing the sun and letting through a melancholic shade of grey, making the sad scenery look even duller. Dead trees and scorched fields were the only things visible, with the occasional destroyed or barely preserved building making an appearance.

It was quiet, the only thing making any sound were the footsteps of a certain blue-eyed scavenger, roaming the Wasteland. This silence was interrupted here and there by some quiet thunder.

The wind was blowing lightly, causing Lance’s coat to flutter. It was merely a breeze, but combined with the cold of the air, it almost hurt Lance’s exposed fingers, which were tightly holding the sniper rifle. That made him wish he had some gloves with him like Keith usually has.

The edged of his lips arched upwards just a bit along with a quiet giggle. “Keith.” Lance sighed under his breath. No matter the cold or the morbid landscape he was walking across, the thought of Keith would always warm his heart.

With Keith on his mind his steps got a little spring to them and his pace quickened. He was heading home from a successful scavenge. He went through a few houses outside of his safe zone around the Colony and found some useful gadgets, some food and a lot of caps. Thankfully he had only one encounter with a ghoul inside one of the houses.

It was really sad though, he discovered it inside a closet, making a lot of noise. It was tied to a chair with a dissolved tie tied around its mouth. Judging by the clothes it had on, Lance guessed it was a woman. He dared not think about the fate she endured before the bombs dropped.

Lance went by the ghoul at first not wanting to waste his ammunition on a subdued threat, but then he decided to read all the letters of the woman’s sister that were on the kitchen table.

-

_Oct. 8_ _ th _ _2074_

_Dear Betsy Gill,_

_I can’t believe you got married! The first one out of the whole group. Well I wish you have a happy and prosperous marriage, thank you again for inviting me to your wedding (well it would be weird if you didn’t invite your own sister) it was a lovely affair. Mom and dad are sending their regards as well!_

_With love,_

_Your favourite sister Mary!_

_-_

Lance smiled at that letter and picked up the next one.

_-_

_Aug. 25_ _ th _ _2075_

_Dear Betsy,_

_I haven’t heard a lot from you in the past year and I’m worried a bit. Mom and dad are great, Stan and I visit them as often as we can. He got a promotion, so things are going great for us and the kids._

_I hope you write back soon._

_Greetings from Mary!_

_-_

Lance’s smile faded, this letter was troublesome. He was beginning to put the pieces together.

_-_

_Sep. 18_ _ th _ _2076_

_Betsy,_

_I’m really worried about you and your wellbeing. The last letter you wrote was one year ago, we haven’t heard from you in a long time and we’re hearing bad things about Robert. You haven’t replied to the last five letters I’ve sent to you. If I don’t hear from you soon I’m coming down to Philly and I’m dragging you back up to Vermont._

_Mary_

_-_

“Oh no.” Lance sighed as he went through more letters from Betsy’s sister and even a few from her friends back from Vermont, all of them expressing concern. He got to the last one, dated a few days before the bombs dropped.

_-_

_Oct. 23_ _ rd _ _2077_

_Betsy!_

_Me and Stan are coming down to Philly, we got your letter. Just stay calm and wait for us to get down in a few days and get you away from that monster._

_-_

It was obvious, Betsy was a victim of domestic abuse.

Lance put down the letters, putting both his hand on the table and lightly leaning on it, taking a deep breath.

He pushed himself off the table and moved on to the bedroom. He searched around and after some digging through the drawers and snooping around the wardrobe, he found a book under a pile of clothes hidden under the bed. It had the initials “ _BG_ ” written on the front.

He opened it up and started reading. It was Betsy’s personal journal, or a diary.

He became curious and wanted to find out her part of the story, so he began with the entry that was most likely a day before her wedding day.

_-_

_Sep. 26_ _ th _ _2074_

_I can’t believe today is the last day I’m going to be Betsy Montgomery. I’m so thrilled. And everything is perfect, the dress is gorgeous, the weather is sunny and warm and of course, the groom is the best man in the world. Oh my oh my how in love am I with Robert. I hope my love for him never dies down, it still hasn’t from the day he swept me of my feet at the town hall gala._

_-_

Lance smiled, but this time his smile was mostly sad, just because he knew what was coming. He went through a few more pages, skimming the most and stopping at the last few.

_-_

_May 2_ _ nd _ _2077_

_He has been quiet the past few days, he hasn’t hit me once. I guess that’s good. He doesn’t know about the letters I’ve been getting from Mary and the rest from Vermont. I hope things get better, I don’t want to end this but he’s hurting me, I don’t know how long I’ll be able to tell others I’m just clumsy and similar things._

_-_

“What a monster could do this?” Lance hissed through gritted teeth. He turned the page and landed on the last one, oddly enough written almost five months later. Why would she wait for so long. He started reading the last entry, but it was hard because it was awfully written, nothing compared to the fine writing seen in the previous entries.

_-_

_Oct. 28_ _ th _ _2077_

_He found the letters, he was furious and in that rage he broke my right arm. I’m barely writing this, not sure why I’m doing this too. I’ve got to go, Mary and Stan are going to get here tomorrow, I’ve gotta go pack up my things and get out of this house before Robert gets home. I asked Sue from down the street to lend me a room for tonight so I can wait for_

_-_

The words stop abruptly, Lance feels sick.

He puts down the books with a heavy sigh and heads towards the closet but stops at the pictures on the wall. They were of a man and a woman. In some they were both happy but in most it could be seen that the woman was uncomfortable, in one you can even see the barely visible bruises on her hands.

Lance noticed that in one picture the woman is wearing the same dress as the ghoul in the closet.

As it seems, she got caught while writing the last part of her diary and Robert did the unthinkable. He most likely beat her up and tied her in the closet.

Knowing all of this Lance decide to walk up back to the feral ghoul and put an end to her suffering. Seeing some irradiated flowers outside the house he decided to pluck a few of them and lay them in the lap of the deceased Betsy Gill.

“Poor gal, hope she’s in a better place now,” Lance sighed as he remembered his encounter. Going around the Wasteland he discovered a lot of stories from the past. Some were happy and some were not. This one hit him hard. He could not believe people were capable of such ferocity. How can you hurt the one you love like that?

He vowed to protect Keith with his life and not harm him in any way.

How could he. He loved Keith.

Even though their relationship was young and new, he felt like he knew Keith all his life. He probably got that felling because he was constantly around him, with the occasional pauses like this one, because you can’t be with someone one hundred percent of the time without getting on each other’s nerves.

But Lance loved spending time with Keith. Lance was naturally a people’s person so he didn’t mind talking and hanging out for hours, but with Keith it was special.

Them talking and hanging around each other now became the standard, they spent their free time in their cushion lair, socializing with the other Colony inhabitants or just sneaking of to their room for some cuddling and kissing sessions.

He never though kissing a boy would feel so good and so right. Up until now he’s only had his eyes set on girls. He liked looking at them, liked flirting with them and fooling around with them if he got the chance. Usually it was if trade caravans and other scavengers rested in the Colony he would charm the ladies and have some fun. He was very straight forward with them and never felt shy in front of them.

But with Keith everything changed. He would get all worked up if Keith did anything remotely cute, he would blush furiously if he saw him with his hair tied up into a bun with the shorter parts of his hair hanging loosely across or by his face. The lack of courage wasn’t because he was afraid or anything bad, but his body reacted to Keith’s actions like nothing before, with a sense of adoration and a need for more. Every time he saw Keith he got the urge to hug him, tell him how much he means to him, protect him and cherish him.

“Is this the first time I really fell in love?” The thought echoed inside his head. All of the pretty girls he’s met and got to know could not measure up to him.

“Woah!” Lance gasped out as he almost hit a branch of a small tree not paying too much attention to his surroundings because he was drowned in his thoughts.

He straightened up and smiled. “He’s going to be the death of me,” he giggled part jokingly and part seriously because he had to keep his guard up in this hostile environment.

After being brought back to real life he noticed something strange. Something hanging on a tree a few meters away from him.

He decided to move up to the tree to take a closer look. It was a white sheet with something on it on the other side.

As he got to the tree and moved to the other side of the sheet he saw a big circle with a weird cross in the middle.

“Weird, I’ve never seen anything like this anywhere.” He moved closer to it, inspecting it and searching for more clues. Flinching away as loud thunder erupted the same second he touched the material.

After staring at it for a good five minutes it started resembling something. Lance tilted his head and then his eyes went wide with horror.

“Oh no,” Lance whispered to himself as he recognized the strange flag like sheet hung on a tree. It was an awfully drawn Galra sign.  He hasn’t seen any since the day they attacked the Colony and killed his grandpa.

He moved backwards from the flag and turned away from it, looking in all directions for possible hostiles. The hold on Elizabeth tightened and he moved her closer to his chest. In the distance, he saw another banner like the one he’s just been examining, but this one was covered in red, no doubt it was blood.

 Lance lifted Elizabeth to the same height as his head, rested her on his shoulder and took a look through the scope in the direction of the blood covered flag.

When the vision cleared and the sight steadied he saw a dead brahmin and a few dead caravan guards next to it. Next to the group of corpses was a tree and sitting under it was an old man with a trail of blood leading up to him indicating that he was crawling towards the caravan.

“Shit!” Lance hissed and almost looked away but a movement caught his attention. The old man moved his arm and head.

“He’s still alive?” Lance gasped and threw Elizabeth around his shoulder, sprinting down to the murder scene.

As he arrived he heard the old man coughing and sighing. He ran up to him and crouched down to him.

“What happened here!?” Lance was already searching through his bag for stimpacks and bandages to help the man but the man’s hand landed on Lance’s and gripped lightly without any force. Lance could feel how weak the man was. He was gripping a torn bag over his stomach with his other hand.

“The Galra raiders ambushed my caravan, it came out of nowhere. No need to waste your meds on me son, I’m long gone.”

“No way I just need to get to my chems.”

“Stop…” His weak voice was more of a whisper but it stopped Lance nevertheless. He weakly moved the bag he was gripping away from his torso revealing a big opened wound already festering and infected with insects.

“Oh my god.”

“I’m a lost hope now, the only way you can help me is to end it.”

Lance’s mind went blank with that.  “No,” he said under his breath.

He was panicking. He couldn’t do this.

“No… Please don’t make me do this...” He was shaking his head and breathing heavily. He couldn’t do this. Yes, he killed ghouls, mirelurks and maybe a few raiders but never innocent traders. He was a good guy! Even when he killed a raider it took sleep away from him for a few days and made him feel like shit. But this… This was too much.

“Kid please, I’m in pain…” He gets interrupted by a coughing attack and then he flinches at the pain. “I’m really sorry to ask you to do this… but I couldn’t reach the gun before and now…” the hand with which he was holding the bag fell to the ground, “I’m too weak to even talk let alone hold up a gun and end it myself. But I can’t stand it.”

Lance stands up and paces around the scene of the massacre.

“Am I really doing this?!” He pulls at his hair with both his hands, breathing irregularly and letting out whines like a wounded animal.

“Son, please, just get it over with and get the hell out of here. Those bastards are everywhere. It’s dangerous for you to be trotting around like this.” The man’s voice was so weak Lance could barely hear it over his own breathing.

He stopped abruptly and faced away from the old man. There was a war of -what is the right thing to do- going on inside his head until it went completely blank.

For a few moments, the man’s heavy breathing was accompanied with the sound of the wind getting stronger and the distant sound of thunder. Everything was still.

That’s when Lance decided.

His hand flew to Maria, kept in her holster. He drew her out and spun around, pointing the gun towards the old man. He waited for a few seconds. His nerves on the edge of breaking. He couldn’t feel anything. Not even the cold wind that was biting into his skin and blowing his long coat.

“Thank you,” the man whispered, a weak but earnest smile appearing on his face.

Lance’s hand was beginning to shake, his eyes were beginning to tear up and in the second he pulled on the trigger, he closed his eyes and the life of Betsy Gill flashed before him.

Because of the shock he didn’t hear or feel the gunshot, but when he opened his eyes he saw a red line of blood spilling down the old man’s face and dripping from his white beard.

His knees gave in under his weight and he collapsed to the ground. _When did it start raining?_ Lance thought to himself as he felt a drop roll down his face. He wiped it away and looked up to the cloudy sky.

Nothing. No rain.

Then it dawned on him. He was crying.

He sniffed and wiped his tears away. His gaze moved up to the immobile body. His eyes were closed and the small smile was still there. If it wasn’t for the gunshot wound in between his eyes or the giant opened wound on his abdomen, Lance would have thought he was sleeping and dreaming about something nice.

He couldn’t get up, so he crawled up to the body to put a flower on his waist the same as he did with Betsy.

When he got closer he heard a roar. Something inhumane that stopped him in the middle of his action. He turned to the source of the sound but saw nothing, only something standing in the far distance.

He reached for Elizabeth as he got up and looked through the scope again. It took a few seconds to get the figure in his sight.

But when he did it shook him to his soul.

The figure was standing in the light so Lance could only see the dark shadow of its silhouette. And it was terrifying.

It was larger than any man, he could tell because it was holding only what he could guess was a corpse of another human being.

Lance’s breath stopped and he was frozen in place.

Even though Lance couldn’t see its face or eyes he knew that thing was staring at him, not moving, just looking.

It was probably the one responsible for this bloodshed.

Goosebumps appeared all over Lance’s body, shivers of fear ran down his spine and his hands were sweating.

Through the shaking scope of his sniper rifle he saw that thing’s leg move… and then the other too.

It was moving.

Towards Lance.

His eyes went wide and he threw Elizabeth over his shoulder, he scattered down to grab his stuff and start off into the direction of the Colony.

The looming thought of that thing following him was horrific and it was causing him to panic.

Then out of nowhere the thunder got closer and louder, scaring Lance to the point where he tripped over his own legs.

He got up in a matter of seconds and started running.

He didn’t care if the Colony was more than a few miles away, he was running. And he won’t be stopping until he’s safe behind the Colony’s walls.

 

-

 

Lance was completely out of breath from running so much. His legs felt like they were going to come off anytime soon. His shoulders hurt him so much from carrying the loot he had from the scavenge, some things fell out but he didn’t care at this moment, and where the shoulder straps met with his body they left light burns from moving and rubbing up against him. Every part of his body ached from the intense strain he was putting on his body.

But he had to get away.

Every now and then he threw a glance back to see if that thing was still following him. At one point, he saw a weird stump big enough to resemble it, and in the speed of his head whipping around and the fast running he mistook it for the monster. That caused him to nearly shit himself and speed up exponentially.

Somewhere in the middle of his marathon for his life, it started raining. That made the ground muddy and slippery, as if the terrain wasn’t bad enough and full of obstacles Lance tripped over like a drunk deer.

The falling rain obscured his vision, causing him to almost collide with a few trees and poles. He was constantly wiping his face fixing the bag on his shoulders and trying to stay upright in this unforgiving situation he landed in.

After so much time running away from whatever the fuck that thing was, he wanted to slow down maybe even stop to take a breather, but then he saw the familiar environment and decided to last for a just a little bit.

After a few turns he saw the top of the wall, one figure stood up on the watch tower and ran off. Lance picked up the pace, not even feeling the burn in his lungs or the pain in his muscles anymore.

As he came closer to the gate he heard yelling and a lot of ruckus.

When he was meters away from the entrance, ready to throw himself at the door, the gate opened revealing concerned looking Arthur and with almost everyone from the Colony running out of their houses to them.

After he ran through the gate, hearing it close behind him, he slowed down. First to a jog then a slow walk that turned into a limp before crashing down on his knees finally feeling the pain and exhaustion again.

It was so overwhelming he just wanted to lie down and fall asleep. As he was tilting forward, ready to hit the cold wet ground, something crashed into him.

“Lance!” Keith screamed as he tried to hold him up.

Lance’s mom joined them, doing the same as Keith, trying to keep her son upright and seeing if he’s hurt.

“Honey what happened? Are you ok?” Fiona sked breathlessly as if she was the one who ran a few miles at high speed.

Seeing Keith and his mom in front of him, holding him up and looking at him with so much love and concern caused Lance to relax and let out a small smile, before collapsing into them, losing his consciousness.

 

-

 

He woke up to beeping.

He was cautiously opening his eyes, waiting for them to get used to the harsh white light and clearing up the vision before he looked around.

The white light, curtains and the walls remind him of Janette’s clinic.

He tried to move his hand to rub his eyes but pain shot up his arm. It was then he noticed he had a stimpack in the arm and he better not move it again.

After a few more seconds, he started to recollect his memories and he started thinking about what happened. The Betsy Gill letters, the old man, the terrifying figure in the distance and the running.

The running explained why he felt like shit. Lingering pain. That felt like he was hurting but at the same time wasn’t spread across his whole body, but when he moved a muscle or coughed it hurt like hell.

After coughed out a few times the door opened and through it came Janette, Fiona, Allan and Keith.

“Honey!” Fiona gasped as she ran up to her son lying on the not very comfortable clinic table. She squeezed his hand, not wanting to hurt him because she was sure he was sore all over. Lance hissed at that and Fiona let go.

“What happened out there, why were you running like that?” Keith joined her, crouching next to Lance’s head smiling warmly at him.

“It was… I’m not sure what it was but it was big and looked like a super mutant but scarier...” His voice was weak but everyone could hear him clearly. The last part caught Keith’s attention.

“Did you see anything else on him?” Keith asked with a straight face.

“N-no, I couldn’t see. It was far away and I didn’t want to wait for it to get closer. It butchered a whole caravan so I didn’t want to have anything with it.” Lance moved his gaze to Keith who held his serious stare looking at Lance but it felt like he was looking through him.

“Babe?” Lance whispered, feeling his strength going away.

That brought Keith out of his thoughts so placed his hand on top of Lance’s head and massaged softly. “You should rest, do you want get to our bed?”

“I don’t think I can get up, I’m sore all over.”

“Wait.” Janette interrupts to pull the stimpack out of Lance’s hand and places it on the surgical table next to her. She turns around to a drawer and pulls out a needle, takes off the cap at the pointy end and moves to the table. “Hold on a bit, you’re going to feel a light sting.”

“Ouch! Light sting my ass, it feels like a rad-wasp sting.”

Janette smirks as she taps the poke mark with alcohol to disinfect the new wound. “If I told you it hurt would you let me do it?”

“I don’t have much of a choice now do I,” Lance refers to him lying on the bed unable to move.

Janette shrugs that of with the flick of her wrist as she puts the needle away. “I did that so you won’t feel so sore when Keith will carry you up to your room.”

“You just appointed that duty to him?” Lance raises and eyebrow. “I mean I’m not complaining but,” he looks at Keith, “are you…?”

“I told her outside that I’ll carry you up to our room when you wake up,” Keith interrupted him with a smile.

Oh, this idiot. Always going out of his way to help out. Lance thought to himself as he couldn’t help but smile back.

“Think you can do it?” His smile turned into a smirk.

Keith’s right eyebrow rose under his hair covering his forehead. “Is that a challenge?”

“Take it as you want,” he said with a challenging tone in his voice which prompted Keith to move to the table, raising his hands up and getting ready to carry his sassy-ass boyfriend up to their bed.

“Hold up!” Janette’s hand flew between them stopping Keith, “Wait a few minutes so the serum gets a chance to start working, then you can carry him away. Just be careful.”

Keith sighed and the nodded. He pulled up a chair next to Lance and sat down with him.

Janette sat behind her desk and reached for a pile of documents that she started to go through with a sigh.

Fiona moved up to Lance and gave him a quick peck on the forehead. “I see you’re in good hands so I’ll be off, the little ones were really worried about you so I better get back and tell them you’re alright.” She squeezes his hand before turning away. “I’ll see you as soon as Keith brings you back to the house. Love you.”

“Love you too,” Lance breathes out with a smile and after that Fiona disappears behind the door.

Lance moved his head so he could see Keith who made eye contact and moved his hand back to where it was before on Lance’s head.

Keith then moved the fingers gently over his scalp, massaging tenderly, doing whatever he can to make Lance feel better.

“Are you better? You were scared out of your mind when you came back,” he asked with a worried voice. “I know you are still shocked and panicked, I can see you still shaking, but do you feel better now that you’re inside the Colony?”

Lance’s eyes were closed because he was enjoying the way Keith played with his hair and pressed in the right placed to make him feel a little more relaxed. “I’m much better, thank you.” He looked up and locked his gorgeous blue eyes with Keith equally beautiful violet shade of grey eyes. “Just seeing you makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.”

Keith’s eyes widened and when he processed what Lance had just said he hid his face in the pillow Lance’s head was propped on.

“You can’t just say things like that without a warning,” he blubbered out as he was trying to conceal his burning face.

Lance was giggling like a child. “Do what?”

“That!” Keith’s hand flew up and pointed at Lance. “You can’t just say cute things like that out of the blue.”

Lance’s giggling intensified. “But it’s true.” He lifted his hand so he could get a hold on the hand pointing at him and warmly squeezed it. “Because of you my heart melts every time I see you.”

Keith pushed his face into the fabric harder.

“And whenever I see you grace me with that heavenly smile I feel like all my problems are gone,” Lance continues with a low loving voice.

Keith conceals the high-pitched scream he lets out with the pillow. After that, he lifts his head and directs his gaze at the young man who feel poetical all of a sudden. “Stop! Stop being so cute, can you at least spare the words for our room so you don’t embarrass me in front of Janette.”

Janette looked up from her documents with a grin. “Oh I like this, keep it up Lance.”

“Gladly,” Lance smirked back at her as Keith pushed his face back into the pillow with a whine.

Lance praised Keith for about 8 more minutes, making him a blubbering mess with the biggest blush, then he was interrupted by Janette who said the serum had more than enough time to kick in effect so they were free to leave.

Keith sprung up at that and picked up Lance as fast as he could, just so he could carry him up to his room and leave the embarrassing situation for him.

Lance couldn’t even react or say goodbye to Janette. Before he noticed he was outside the Holt household and was quickly being carried over to his household.

He felt the rain on his exposed skin. It was cool and calming for him, but there was something more.

He opened his mouth so he could catch some raindrops. When he did he studied the taste. It was clear rain, rain which he didn’t see in a long time.

“Wait, Keith.” Lance pulled on the jacket Keith was wearing to get his attention. “Wait a second.”

“What do you mean “wait”? I gotta get you inside as fast as I can,” Keith said between deep breaths. Lance was thin and lanky but that didn’t mean he weighed like a feather, he was still pretty tall and had some admirable muscles under his clothes, not the same kind as Shiro though.

“I just want to feel the rain for a second.” He was looking at the sky with so much glee it slowed down Keith’s pace. “I promise it won’t be long.”

Keith stopped completely. “Ok, tell me when you want to go in.”

Lance nodded and stretched out his arms so more of his body was exposed to the falling rain. Every now and then distant thunder broke the comfortable silence between them. The breeze calmed down so it was really comfortably on Lance’s wet skin, helping him ease the soreness.

The rain drops that were rolling down his skin reminded him of a feeling he felt a long time ago. It was a nice welcome feeling. The one he got when he and his grandpa snuck out in the rain during one summer and played in the puddles around the Colony. He was so happy then.

The air wasn’t as warm as it was that day, but it still helped him forget about what has happened to him today and it calmed his nerves.

“It’s been a long time since rain as clear as this fell,” Lance started as he pulled his arms closer and glimpsed at Keith. “We can go inside now, I just wanted to feel it.”

Keith started moving again with a delighted look on his face. “You really like rain, huh?”

“I love it,” he said as he nuzzled his face into Keith’s chest.

When they got inside the house they were attacked by Fiona, who was angry at them for standing in the rain for so long, telling them they could have gotten a cold or maybe something even worse.

Thankfully Lance’s dad calmed her down when he walked in the hall with towels for the two who were wet like the ocean.

After they dried up Allan helped Keith carry Lance up the stairs. Then they got changed into dry new clothes.

Keith helped Lance in the bed carefully before covering him up and joining him.

As soon as his head hit the soft pillow he closed his eyes and was ready to fall asleep. But the feeling of Keith right beside him gave him the urge to look at him one more time, to see his pretty face and warm smile so he could calm down even more.

His eyes met his and they could only smile warmly at each other. The moment was sweet but short-lived, as Keith began.

“How was the scavenge before you saw that thing?” his smile faltering a bit, showing signs of worry.

Lance took a deep breath. “It was fine I guess, I found some interesting stuff, even a quantum harmonizer which Hunk wanted for a long time. I think he said he needed it for his photonic resonation chamber.”

Keith watches with a blank stare. “I’m not even going to ask.”

Lance giggled. “Don’t worry I have no idea what those are. I just hope it didn’t fall out when I was running back.” Lance looked around the room. “Where is my bag anyway?”

“It’s in Hunks workshop, he and Pidge took care of that, don’t worry,” Keith shrugged. “What else happened, you said you were going out of the safe zone right?”

Lance nodded. “Yeah, we’ve went through the safe zone a hundred times over, we won’t find any more loot there. So, I decided to widen my search area. I went down to that cute little town we went past when we were coming back from Philly, remember?”

“Yeah, that’s the place where we met that Rolo guy and her companion, right?”

“Oh, yeah right…” Lance said with a low voice with spite, directing his gaze at the ceiling, narrowing his eyelids and arching his lips into a glare. “Rolo!” he spat.

Keith raised his eyebrows, surprised at Lance’s reaction, and then after a few seconds he remembered what happened. A smirk made an appearance on his smug face.

“Do I hear jealousy in your voice?” he said in a comically questioning voice.

Lance shot a glare his way. “Of course I am, that sleazy merchant thought he had the right to flirt with you.”

“Well that’s a long time before we got together… Did you like me back then already?” Keith’s eyes gleamed.

Lance was practically shaking under his excited stare, moving his head away to conceal his face.

“Anyway, back on topic, I was…”

“I liked you there already too,” Keith interrupted Lance’s high pitched spluttering.

Lance’s head shot back to look at a marginally blushing Keith.

“What?” he questioned with wide eyes.

“Yeah, ever since we met at the Garrison I liked you.” He held up a hand. “Not like ‘like like’ you, but like ‘you are very attractive and nice’ kind of like you. And over time that nice feeling grew, even when you were completely annoying and when I could barely stand you.”

Lance’s face softened completely. This boy just told him how he fell in love in the cutest way. It made him feel so warm inside. It felt so right, just being with him like this.

“How could I not like you? You were so pretty and mysterious. I liked your hair as it fell down your face and even more when I got the pleasure of tying it into a bun.”

Keith snickered. “The pleasure was mine, you have no idea what my heart was doing in that moment.”

Lance smirked. “Well, I’m a professional when it comes to swooning people.”

Keith rolled his eyes and the Lance continued. “Even though I only used that on girls, which was fascinating to me. You were the first boy to ever make me feel like that.” Lance blinked, held his breath for a moment and then looked at Keith. “You sure are something special.”

Lance lifted his shoulders, bringing his head closer to Keith’s and using one hand to guide Keith’s face closer. He closed his eyes, so did Keith and in a split second their lips connected and they were kissing.

It was so soft and sweet, like a metaphor for this tender moment they were sharing. Their soft lips moving together but not going further. This was a cute and innocent kiss that ended after a few seconds.

As they parted and opened their eyes they saw each other. They giggled until Keith moved closer and gave Lance a quick peck on his forehead. And then on his cheek, and then on his nose.

Lance was melting under the assault of kisses from Keith, he didn’t know what to do other than giggle and try to cover his ever-reddening face.

After the kissing spree, Keith moved away just enough so he could pull the cover from underneath him and join him under it. He covered them both up and snuggled up to Lance.

It was still early, but the clouds made it seem darker and the two were tired as hell.

“Goodnight Lance,” Keith whispered into Lance’s ear as he wounded an arm around his waist to pull him closer in a protective manner.

“Goodnight Keith,” Lance responded as he turned to his boyfriend and closed his eyes.

The dark room, lit up by lightning from time to time, fell quiet, only the tapping of the rain was heard accompanied by thunder every now and then.

 

-

 

 “So, you’re saying that that thing had a human next to it or something?” Hunk asked as he was drilling into some metal on his workshop.

Lance was sitting on a drawer next to him swaying his legs above the ground as he watched Hunk work on his turrets or mods or whatever the fuck he was doing. It was his day off, so he decided to spend it with Hunk after a long time not being able to.

“Well, my scope was shaking a lot so all I saw was that thing holding a corpse,” he replied as he started to play with a wrench that was dangling next to him on the wall.

“Corpse?” Hunk put the drill away and grabbed a small welder. He moved it to the metal cautiously and started it up.

“From what I saw it wasn’t alive.” Lance was now poking the wrench, playing with it like a little kid.

“Damn, and you say you couldn’t see anything specific about that thing?”

Lance jabbed the wrench just a little too hard and it fell down making a loud metallic noise. Hunk turned around with a disinterested gaze and Lance smiled fondly albeit awkwardly at him. “Sorry.” He jumped down from the drawer and picked up the wrench.

“I told you already, the scope was too shaky for me to see anything. All I saw was that thing’s silhouette.” He put the wrench back in its place. “Although I could’ve sworn it was greenish.”

“Like a super mutant?” Hunk was all done with the welder and decided to put it away with his gloves, mask and the protective rag he had on.

“Maybe, it looked menacing like a super mutant, but it was bigger.”

“Behemoths are giant super mutants and you can shoot them down like flies. Why was this one any different?” Hunk turned off the generator connected to his workplace. “There. All done.” He rubbed his hands together and smiled pleased with his work.

“I don’t know it just seemed so powerful.” He moved to Hunk’s side as they were leaving the workshop, “I felt like that thing was intelligent, not like the brain-dead lumps of radioactive green meat the others are, but really intelligent.”

Hunk closed the door behind them as they made their way to the centre area of the Colony. “What makes you think it was intelligent?”

Lance’s head bowed so he was looking at the ground as he was walking to the dining hall. “The way it stood so proudly. It wasn’t hunched down or on both legs and an arm like the others. And if any other super mutant saw me, it would be charging towards me like an animal guns blazing.”

“Think it saw you?”

Lance nodded. “Even though I couldn’t see its eyes, I felt the gaze and it was terrifying. I felt like I was being observed by it, like it was trying to get to know me.” He kicked the pebbles on the ground, watching them roll on the surface of the brown dirt.

“Creepy.”

“Yeah.”

They walked the last few meters to the benches in silence. When the sat down Lance put his elbows on the table and propped his head up on his palms.

“What do you think it was like back then?” he said as his gaze wandered off into the distance.

Hunk moved his gaze to the daydreaming teen with a confused look and raised an eyebrow. “How did you go from murderous super mutant mastermind to the good old days?”

“I just thought about how it was when super mutants didn’t exist,” he answered with a sigh. “I just want to know how it was for them, living in a cosy home, being part of a nice community, and countries that worked civilly.”

“You already know how it was, you’ve read a thousand books about that. Seriously kudos on that. I don’t think I could digest so much information about the history of this place.” He patted his friend with a proud beam.

“Yeah, I know, but there are still so many things I don’t know. Remember how we thought those big lumps of metal all around that crater south from here were from a weird car? Nan thought they looked like birds so she called them sleeping steel birds.” He giggled.

Hunk did the same. “Yeah I remember. I also remember how you found out they were planes.”

“And that’s what I mean. What if there are more things like that we just haven’t found. And what was before that? Did you know that a long time before the bombs dropped they rode horses like cars?”

Hunk burst out laughing. “What?”

“Yeah.” Lance gave him a toothy smile.

“They rode those things, the ones that are on the painting above your fireplace?”

“Yeah!”

They laughed about that, relaxed and then subsided to a comfortable silence.

“Well even if that world is gone, I’m glad we live here in the Colony. It’s the closest to what the old world looked like.”

“Yeah, the important thing is we’re together.” Hunk reached for Lances hand and squeezed it tightly.

Lance squeezed back. “It really is. Fuck the old world, it’s gonna be a hobby for me now not an obsession anymore.”

“You do you dude.”

Another silent brake.

“So what do you wanna do?” Lance broke the silence. It was late noon and all they did that day was modify Lance’s sniper rifle, made new scopes and prepared parts for new defence turrets. Well, before that they asked Lance’s mom is they could borrow the kitchen so Lance could show Hunk how to bake simple cookies. In return Hunk showed him how to cook the simples meals so he won’t be so dependent on his mom.

Keith had a day off guard duty too, but they decided to spend the day with others. Because both still had their friends and they loved them with all their hearts.

“I don’t know, you got any ideas?”

Lance furrowed and started humming. Then his eyes went wide with excitement.

“Let’s climb the tree again.”

Hunks smile fell.

“Lance…”

“Come on it’s gonna be fun!” he screamed as he got up and sprinted to the big tree. Hunk whined and reluctantly followed him.

When he made it to the tree Lance was already at the fifth branch.

“Come on you lazy ass, get up here,” he hollered down with a wide smile.

“Lance, if you haven’t noticed yet, I’m not as agile and thin as I was 10 years ago, when we climbed this tree. And frankly, I don’t think you are either.”

Lance only waved him of and continued climbing up. “You can do it Hunk, I know you buddy.” He leaped from one branch to another far away so it made Hunk’s heart skip a beat. “Meet you at the top!”

 _That reckless twat_ , Hunk thought to himself.

As Lance was climbing up the tree like a monkey on speed, Hunk decided to give it a try. Even though he knew he wasn’t going to get far but at least Lance ignited a fire inside, giving him the will to at least try.

So he did.

By the time Lance reached the top and started shouting triumphantly as if he defeated the Enclave, Hunk made it up to three quarters of the tree’s height, surprising himself and giving Lance even more reasons to scream like a lunatic.

After their achievement, they slowly made their way down. Going down wasn’t as easy as going up Lance noticed, as he almost fell three times, got a nasty cut when he miscalculated the distance between his leg and a lower branch and at the end he missed the last branch altogether and plummeted to the ground, landing on his ass.

“Guess Keith won’t be able to climb you tonight, eh?”

Hunk earned a punch with that one but it was so worth it.

“Don’t be an ass.” Lance glared at him as he was stumbling next to him.

Hunk snorted. “Ass,” he whispered to himself but Lance heard that.

“Hey, it was your idea, punch yourself if you’re so angry about it.”

“Whatever, at least we did something fun after a while.”

“Yeah it was fun.” Hunk threw an arm around Lance’s broad shoulders and pulled him closer. “By the way, while we were talking about Keith…” “You mean you used him to humiliate me?” “Exactly! I was wondering, how long are they going to stay here? Him and Shiro I mean.”

Lance stopped in his tracks. “What do you mean?”

“Well, they’ve been here a long time and in a few months their contract will run out. You remember, you were the one to hire them.”

“Oh. Yeah right, yeah I remember.”

He didn’t think about that at all. He didn’t think about what would happen when the deal will run its course back then when he made the deal either. He especially didn’t think about what would happen after he and Keith got together.

“I don’t know. I almost forgot they were mercenaries.”

Hunk felt the slouch in Lance’s shoulders and he patted him. “I’m sure it’s going to work out fine, maybe they’ll stay here with us permanently. I know what Keith means to you now and I hope everything is going to be alright.” He gave Lance a reassuring smile.

Lance relaxed at that. “Thanks for the pep talk.” He smiled back at his best friend.

“No sweat!”

It was getting dark so they decide to end their meeting after another short conversation about nothing and everything.

 

-

 

The rainy days came back. It was normal for this part of the year, late winter early spring, to be so wet. And this rain was unusually clean and unirradiated. Lance loved it.

He liked the smell of rain, he loved the way it felt on his exposed skin and the chill of the wind that blew by.

That’s why he liked to volunteer for guard duty.

Sitting in that bench under the loose metal roof of the guard tower, he watched the area around the outsides of the Colony. He felt relaxed listening to the sounds the rain made as it fell on the roof and all around him. It was one of the most calming feelings he knew.

After a few hours of just sitting there and relaxing made his eyes close gradually over time. He was on the verge of taking a soothing nap, when something flashed before his eyes.

He sat up straight and immediately propped his gun up so he could look though his scope.

Nothing.

“Strange.” He places the gun back on the floor next to him and eyes the area from which he could have sworn he saw something. “Mind playing tricks on me.”

He relaxes back to the same position he was in before.

The sound of the rain putting his mind at ease again. Every now and then a breeze would curve the raindrops under the roof so they would land on Lance’s bare skin. That was partly why he decided to watch the tower a little underdressed for this cold and wet weather, but to hell with it, the feeling was too good for him.

And he was willing to do anything to calm down these days. Even though he wasn’t traumatized by what happened to him prior that week, he’s seen a lot of stuff that was a lot more gruesome than that, he still felt like something was wrong.

Besides the constant feeling of guilt, because he killed an innocent old man, he felt like something was off. Maybe it was still the feeling of that thing watching him.

No matter how much Hunk, Keith, Fiona and the others tried to make that feeling go away it still stuck, like the smell of cigarettes on clothes.

“It’s gonna get better,” he told himself over and over again. “Everything is going to be fine.”

“Lance?” Keith’s voice sounded a bit muffled by all the rainfall.

Lance turned around to peek around the corner of the watch tower to see his boyfriend standing in the pouring rain.

“Keith what are you doing outside, you’re going to catch a cold if you stay out there,” he said with a worried voice.

“Yeah, yeah I’m going back in I just wanted to see where you are since your shift should have ended half an hour ago.” Keith shuddered and hugged himself tightly trying to stay warm as cold rain poured on him. Lance felt bad for making him worry and get soaked like that just to see if he’s fine.

“It should have ended? Well Arthur didn’t show up yet so I couldn’t just leave the post.”

“Sorry kid, Verona distracted me!” a shout was heard from the house and Lance could see his older brother run from the front door to the tower.

Lance snorted and turned to Keith. “Ok wait for me then, I’ll be down in a sec.”

“Ok,” Keith replied happily but clearly cold as if he was standing in a refrigerator.

Lance packed up his things quickly and was ready to go down the ladder from the watch tower when he noticed another flash.

He turned to the outside again, watching with squinted eyes. He propped up Elizabeth one more time to take a quick peek but he didn’t see anything.

“I must be going crazy,” he whispered to himself as he descended down the ladder and started walking towards Keith.

“Wait Arthur! You forgot your lunchbox!” Anna sprinted after Arthur with a small lunchbox everyone got when they went on shift so they wouldn’t starve themselves.

“Oh thanks,” Arthur giggled awkwardly as he took the lunchbox from Anna’s hands.

“Next time don’t be so absent minded, I don’t like running around in the freezing cold rainfall,” she said with a hand resting on her hip.

“Don’t be so sassy sis, I had to bring your snacks to the garden too,” Lance said as he walked to the three, that were standing halfway to the house. That’s when he drapped an arm around Keith and gave him a peck on the cheek. “C’mon let’s get inside and get you warmed up.”

He was just about to turn away from Arthur and Anna and head back inside with Keith, when he heard a loud shot.  

Then it felt like he was living in slow-motion.

He couldn’t feel the raindrops roll down his face anymore, or the cold wind, but he felt a warm splatter on his arm.

He looked down to see blood all over his torso.

Nothing made sense, what was happening?

He felt hands grip his arm tightly.

He heard a loud shriek.

His body felt like stone, he couldn’t move.

“What’s happening?” he whispered to himself.

And then his mind went blank.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pls stay with me
> 
> Also if anyone wants to contact me in any other way here is my Tumblr:  
> http://viccidelme.tumblr.com/
> 
> And I would also like to thank my friend who is helping me with this fic a lot, and I'll leave a link to her Tumblr too:  
> http://goddes-morrigna.tumblr.com/


	9. Yeah...

So this isn't anything fic related I'm just giving the ones that got invested in this fic an apology for being absent for more than five months.

The reason why I left (read neglected) the fic for so long was because I had too much work with school, it was my final year and the year in which I was tasked with getting as many points as I can so I can get accepted into the school I want to go to, the one that will practically determine my life. I thought i would be easier getting in but then things turned on me. Along side my normal worries and drama I got a notification that said the schools qualifications grew exponentially compared to the last few years so that changed the playingfield quite a bit. so i was forced to improve my results to A+ standard in five months and also get ready for the last five written exams (spanning the last four years) and three verbal ones too. 

That's why I wasn't able to update, I hope you understand.

Unfortunatelly my results weren't sufficient and my fight rages on, but it's not so intense so I have a lot more time on my hands. Not too much since I got a job now (so i'll earn some cash to help me out if I'll have to pay a shitton for my school if i don't get enough points)

Anyway... I started writing the next chapter and I plan on releasing it before season 3 comes out (pls don't kill me if i don't tho).

I hope you are all well, THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT AND KUDOS AND COMMENTS AND ALL <3 <3 <3  
Talk to you soon!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY GOD LANCES BIRTHDAY AND S3 ARE ALMOST HERE!!!!!!!!!!


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